How to clone a Github repository to your machine

By Soumya Singh

Acknowledgements: Alistair Madden, the Compsoc President, for this detailed explanation

An application to alleviate food wastage by allowing people to 'donate' unwanted food to the needy.

1. The first step is to make a folder to clone the repository:

mkdir directory_name

cd directory_name

2. Then clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/athenexcalibur/gp8.git gp

Install git from **https://git-scm.com/downloads** if you don't have it.

3. This will place a folder called gp inside your directory_name folder.

4. Navigate to the project folder:

   cd directory_name

   You may check the contents of the directory by typing ls in bash (Mac/Linux) or dir (Windows).

   The branch already checked out is the master branch. This must always contain the latest/final release.

   The developer branch is where all new features are all branched from and merged into - you can refer to http://nvie.com/posts/a-successful-git-branching-model/

5. To view a local branches, you use the checkout command. Say, a branch is called indexpage. You should type:

   git checkout indexpage

   To view all local branches on your machine, type git branch

6. If you have followed these instructions, you should only see the master branch. Type git checkout develop to create the develop branch. This is a local branch (the one on your machine) which is linked to the remote branch (the one online on Github).

7. Type ls or dir once more. This will highlight all changes made in files.

For more information, check-out https://git-scm.com/doc