Resources

Author

Marie-Hélène Burle

Online documentation

Courses & workshops

Q & A

Troubleshooting

“Listen” to Git!

Git is extremely verbose: by default, it will return lots of information. Read it!

These messages may feel overwhelming at first, but:

  • they will make more and more sense as you gain expertise,
  • they often give you clues as to what the problem is,
  • even if you don’t understand them, you can use them as Google search terms.

(Re-read) the doc

As I have no memory, I need to check the man pages all the time. That’s ok! It is quick and easy.

For more detailed information and examples, I really like the Official Git manual.

Search online

Don’t panic

Be analytical. It is easy to panic and feel lost if something doesn’t work as expected. Take a breath and start with the basis:

  • make sure you are in the repo (pwd) and the files are where you think they are (ls -a),
  • inspect the repository (git status, git diff, git log). Make sure not to overlook what Git is “telling” you there.