Re: as promised, docs: git for the confused

From: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
Date: Dec 12, 2005, 16:34 UTC
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.64.0512120827440.15597@g5.osdl.org>
In-Reply-To: <7vmzj9zwfu.fsf@assigned-by-dhcp.cox.net>

On Fri, 9 Dec 2005, Junio C Hamano wrote:

Show 7 quoted lines

>
> Exactly.  That's why task oriented list would be most useful.
> Here is a starter.
> 
> 
> Everyday GIT Cheat Sheet Or Git With 20 Commands
> ================================================

Would this file perhaps also have examples?

I really think a lot of people learn better from examples than from having pointers to git programs that can be useful.

For example, earlier today I got the bash tar-ball because I had forgotten what the magic config option was to make bash do the right thing wrt pipe write errors. And because I'm totally dependent on "git grep" these days, I turned that tar-ball into a git archive. It's really a sinfully simple thing to do, but I don't think we mention that anywhere in the docs.

Here's what I did:

	# Extract the thing as normal
	zcat < bash-3.0.tar.gz | tar xvf -
	cd bash-3.0/

	# make a git archive out of it
	git init-db
	git add .
	git commit

and that's it. That creates a git archive from a tar-ball. Very simple, and short sequences like these would make tons of sense for a "cheat sheet" like yours, and I really think most people can look at those three git commands and suddenly they understand what they do a lot better than by reading the man-pages.

Or maybe it's just me. But I know _I_ understand things better by seeing the "context" that they are used in. Then I go to man-pages later on, if I want to know the details.

No?

		Linus