Cloning Large Repos and Working with Shallow Clones

  • Shallow Clone: git clone --depth=1 <repo-url> to download just the latest commit.
  • Unshallow: To fetch the rest of the history after shallow cloning, use git fetch --unshallow.

Fetch, Merge, and Pull

  • Fetch updates without merging: git fetch origin master
  • Merge changes from origin/master into the current branch: git merge origin/master
  • Pull changes (fetch + merge in one step): git pull origin master

Commit Management

  • Change the most recent commit message: git commit --amend
  • Push commits and tags to origin:
    • git push origin master
    • git push origin master --tags

Inspecting and Resetting Files

  • List tracked files: git ls-files
  • Unstage a file: git reset HEAD <filename>
  • Reset changes to a file: git checkout <filename>

Logs and History

  • Graphical commit log: git log --graph --oneline --decorate --all
  • Follow file history, including renames: git log --follow <filename>
  • See reflog (checkout, commit, pull history): git reflog

Merging and Rebasing

  • Merge a branch without fast-forwarding: git merge branchname --no-ff
  • Rebase a branch onto another: git rebase master
  • Abort or continue a rebase:
    • git rebase --abort
    • git rebase --continue

Stashing Changes

  • Save changes to stash: git stash save "message"
  • Apply a specific stash: git stash apply stash@{1}
  • Stash both tracked and untracked files: git stash -u

Tagging

  • Create a simple tag: git tag myTag
  • Create an annotated tag: git tag -a ver1.0
  • Delete a tag: git tag -d myTag

Cherry Picking

  • Apply a specific commit from another branch: git cherry-pick <commitID>

Branch Management

  • Delete a branch: git branch -d branchName
  • Create a new branch from another branch: git branch newBranch origin/otherBranch
  • Set a branch to track another remote branch: git branch --set-upstream-to=<remote/branch>

Dealing with Merge Conflicts

After a conflict arises, resolve it by editing files, staging the changes, and committing the merge: