Track your changes to an open-source project with git

Here are quick and easy steps to track your changes to an open-source project.

Once you get a handle on git, you'll find it very powerful. But getting started can be the biggest challenge. Distributed source control requires a different way of thinking than using a central repository. Use this to get past the first hurdles.

Requirements

1. Before you can start making changes to a project, you should get the code and make sure you can compile and run it.
2. The next requirement is pretty simple:

• access to the code in the svn development branch
• my own branch off of the svn development branch
• ability to overlay the latest svn changes on top of changes in my branch

Notice how simple this is - we're not even asking to commit anything yet. These are fundamental requirements that any developer on a non-trivial open-source project would have. You need to do this if you are going to bang on an open-source project.

1. Now let's add one more requirement. I'm going to have this code on at least three different machines, so I need to be able to have a common repository for my changes.

• ability to work from several locations, pushing/pulling my changes to a central repo

Another basic source control requirement. But try to meet this set of requirements with CVS or subversion (SVN). No longer simple.

Setup

 I started looking into better ways to solve my problem, and ran into Linus Torvald's solution (git).  

It's definitely a change to think in distributed terms when you're used to using CVS/SVN centralized repos