Some basic necessities for any project, including my go-to .gitconfig and a collection of .gitignore files for various platforms.

Simply clone this repo, delete the .git/ folder and everything but .gitconfig and .gitignore, and use the root universal-boilerplate folder as the root of your new development project.

1. Find the .gitconfig file in the root of this project. If you're on Linux/UNIX, you'll have to view hidden files to find it.
2. Find the appropriate .gitignore file for your platform and/or IDE.
   • If you're using Node.js: You're all set, the one for Node.js (with Cloud9 IDE) is already in the project root.
   • If you're using something else: Look in the gitignore/ and gitignore/global/ folders for the .gitignore for your environment. Rename it .gitignore and replace the one in the root of this project.
3. Copy .gitconfig and .gitignore into the appropriate folder.
   • If you want the settings to apply to one project: Copy the files into the root of your development project (the folder that has the .git/ subfolder in it).
   • If you want to change your global Git settings: Copy them into your home directory (this is ~ on Linux or %HOMEPATH% on Windows).

Note: I typically put .gitconfig in my home folder and .gitignore in one project root at a time. That way I can have project-specific gitignore settings while using the same command shortcuts everywhere.

The most important part of this repo is the .gitconfig, file which contains a bunch of macros to make Git more convenient and safer. Apart from being shorter to type, they're designed to encapsulate parts of your workflow so you don't have to worry about forgetting a step or breaking a team convention. All are documented in the [alias] section of the .gitconfig file, but here are the most common and useful ones:

#$> git ss  # See current commit status, current branch, and last commit (good way to generally get your bearings)

#$> git new new_branch   # Create a new branch and switch to it
#$> git go other_branch  # Switch to an existing branch

#$> git pl                # Pull latest from origin (simple alias for `git pull`)
#$> git ps                # Push changes to origin (simple alias for `git push`)
#$> git mnf other_branch  # Merge, but create a merge commit even if fast-forwarding is possible

#$> git com "I did a thing"  # Add all untracked files, commit everything with the given message (echoing mode)
#$> git save                 # Quicksave: Create a commit with a default message (you can also specify one)

Both com and save automatically run git add --all, so you don't have to worry about forgetting to add your changes. save can be used in place of git stash, but it has the advantage of preserving a trail in the Git log. This is especially useful for the uncommit and undo macros below.

#$> git uncommit  # Reopen the last commit, but don't undo the changes

This won't erase any of your file changes, but it will make it as though you never committed them. You can rewrite the commit message, add changes, or move to a different branch and redo the commit.

#$> git undo      # If there are uncommitted changes: Dump all uncommitted changes.
                  # If there are no uncommitted changes: Dump the last commit and roll back to the previous one.

Both uncommit and undo automatically create a quicksave with the save macro, so it's safe to make mistakes with them. Even though it looks like you threw away all uncommitted changes or erased the last commit, they're still reachable as a "detached" commit. If you change your mind, all you have to do is find the hash of the quicksave commit (there are ways of doing this).

#$> git reword "New message"  # Enter a new commit message for the most recent commit
#$> git amend                 # Add all changes (including untracked files), then add current changes to last commit

NOTE: Both of these macros use the git commit --amend command to alter an existing commit. Do NOT amend or reword commits you've already pushed to a remote! This will cause your Git histories to diverge, which will inevitably lead to problems.