Windows - Git with Atom GUI Tutorial

Installing Git Command Line

1. For Windows, you must download GitBash in order to get Git on your machine. Go to https://gitforwindows.org/ and click "Download".
2. After downloading and running the installation, hit "Yes" to allow for changes.
3. Go through the prompts hitting "next" each time with the default options. You do not need to run the program after installation.
   
4. Search for "cmd" and open up the Command Prompt.
5. Enter in the following commands followed by the enter key substituting your username and email you used to sign up for GitLab in order to let Git know what user you are.

   git config --global user.name "YOUR_USERNAME"
   git config --global user.email "your_email_address@example.com"
             

   

Cloning the Repository

Install Atom if you have not already from here: https://atom.io/

Windows

1. After opening Atom, open up the "Command Palette" by using the menu bar or hitting "Ctrl+Shift+P".
2. Type in "Clone" and select "Github: Clone".
3. Copy the clone URL from the GitLab repository you would like to clone.
4. Paste in the URL to clone then type a location that you will be able to access easily later. Then hit the "Clone" button (It may take a couple of seconds to complete).
5. Enter in your GitLab credentials that you used to create your GitLab account and hit "OK".
6. Your repository should now show up in the Project Viewer on the left side.

Opening Up An Existing Local Repository

1. With Atom Open, select "File > Add Project Folder" from the menu bar or press "Cmd+Shift+O" or "Ctrl+Shift+O".
2. Navigate to the existing repository folder, selected it, and press "Open".
3. Your repository should now show up in the Project Viewer on the left side.

Staging, Committing, Pushing

1. Open up the Git GUI by clicking on the "Git" button in the bottom right.
2. That will open up a Git View showing the "Unstaged" changed, the changes selected to be "Staged", and previous commits. Unstaged changes are any files that have been changed or new files added to the directory. By hitting "Stage All", you select all of the changed to be committed to the online repository. You can also select individual changes to stage.
3. You can hit the "Fetch" button down at the bottom to pull any changes from the online repository to your local one.
4. Once you have staged the changes you want to commit, you can type in a descriptive commit message and hit "Commit to master".
5. Finally, you need to hit "Push" to send your local commit to the online repository.