Using GitHub for Projects

If you are interested in having your project backed up and hosted for free you can use GitHub to do this. It's a bit complicated, and will require setting up a free GitHub account.

In order to use this, you'll need a few things:

• "Git" (the language) needs to be downloaded and installed on your computer (already done on the Room 200 computers)

• You'll need to set up a GItHub account: https://github.com/ 

• Here is an intro to Git and GitHub, along with instructions on running Git from the terminal: https://www.jcchouinard.com/get-started-with-github/ 

• GitHub has a limit of 100MB maximum individual file size.

  • Using a .gitignore file will give you control over what files are uploaded and what files are excluded

  • If you are using Unity:

    1. • go to https://github.com/github/gitignore/blob/main/Unity.gitignore and download the unity.gitignore file (see below for picture)

       • Move the unity.gitignore file into the root folder of your project

GitHub Desktop

• If you would like to use GitHub Desktop to manage your backup/versioning

  • The program can be installed into your profile on the computer you are using, in Room 200 it should already be installed for you.

  • Open the program

  • File _> New Repository

    • For location, select the folder that your project folder is located inside of (up one level from your project folder)

    • Make the repository name the same as the name of the project folder (the folder name can't contain spaces or symbols)

    • Under Git ignore, select "none" as you've already placed your .gitignore file in your project folder

    • Click on "Create repository", and then wait until the spinning arrows at the top have finished

    • If you get a warning that certain files are too large, you'll need to use Git-LFS (see below)

    • Publish your repository to GitHub

  • You now have a copy of your project safely saved on GitHub, as the "main" branch.

  • Once you have made substantial changes to your project, you can back it up by "committing" it to "main" on your computer, then "pushing" it to origin remote (GitHub)

Using Git Large File Storage for files over 100 MB (With GitHub Desktop)

Open PowerShell

• Change your current working directory to the root of your project folder (using cd)

• Initialize the repository:

  • git init

•  Run the following command to find all files over 100MB in size:

  • Get-ChildItem -recurse | where-object {$_.length -gt 104857600 } | Sort-Object length | ft fullname, length -auto

• Any files that show up will need to their filetype flagged to be stored using Git LFS

  • Initialize git LFS:

  • Enter the command: git lfs install

  • You should see the message:   Git LFS initialized.

  • If you don't see a message indicating that git lfs install was successful, close the powershell session, open a new one, then try again.

• To associate a file type in your repository with Git LFS, enter git lfs track followed by the name of the file extension you want to automatically upload to Git LFS.

  • For example, to associate a .dylib file, enter the following command:

    •    git lfs track "*.dylib"

  • You should see the reply: Tracking "*.dylib"

• The changes that you are making are stored in a .gitattributes file.

  • Git add .gitattributes

• You are now ready to do your commit and publish in GitHub Desktop

Open GitHub Desktop, and go into the File Menu -> Add local repository

• The Local path should point to your project folder

  • Click "Add Repository"

  • You will now do your first local commit

• Fill out the summary message and then click "commit to master"

  • Wait for the Commit to full finish (spinning wheel stops)

• You are now ready to publish your branch to GitHub.

  • If you are already signed in to your GitHub account, click "Publish branch"

  • If not, you will probably be prompted to enter your information

• When the Publish finishes, you can check your online repository

  • Go to the Repository menu, and select "View on GitHub"

If you are using Visual Studio Code to manage your backup/versioning:

• You'll need the GitHub Pull extension installed in Visual Studio Code

• Sign in to your GitHub account in Visual Studio Code

  • Go in to the Source Control View on the left, then publish your site to a public repository

  • If you are running into problems, you can try configuring Git using this tutorial:  https://www.jcchouinard.com/install-git-in-vscode/

• If you need to configure your Git username/email

  • Open powershell

    • Set your username: git config --global user.name "FIRST_NAME LAST_NAME"

    • Set your email address: git config --global user.email "MY_NAME@example.com"

Understanding version control and Git

• The git parable (longer read, but a great explanation)

• Quickstart guide to collaborating with GitHub: https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/quickstart/github-flow