Github Help

PDS Local Data Dictionary development and management is centered out of Github.com. This page will help provide some information to get folks trained up on using Git, Github, and Github Issues.

Git and Github Training

To get started, some basic training on how to use Git and Github are absolutely critical. Here are some training opportunities that are highly recommended in order to work with PDS Local Data Dictionaries:

Getting Started (~3 hrs)

For a primer for using Github, we highly recommend LinkedIn Learning’s Github Essential Training. This course really does a great job of walking through many examples and some of the details of using Git and Github. If you do not have a LinkedIn Learning account, you can create a free 1-month account through their website.

For those of you who do not wish to created a LinkedIn Learning account, Github Learning Lab’s First Day on Github + First Week on Github are together a decent alternative training.

Using Github Desktop (TBD hrs)

For most people using Github.com, you will want to use Github Desktop, which is a desktop application to locally update your Github repositories. Once you download, install, and open the application, the initial prompt will present with an option to “Create a Tutorial Repository”, which will walk you through a tutorial to get started with Github Desktop. See this Github Blog post for more information on Github Desktop and this intro tutorial.

Note

By default, when you download the Github Desktop application, it does not install into your Applications or Program Files directories. It is recommended that your move the application appropriately so you do not lose track of where it is installed.

If you wish to access Github via command-line, there are numerous tutorial online for doing so.

Github Best Practices

Here is some additional information for some best practices the PDS tries to follow when using Github:

  • Commit Message Best Practices - providing helpful, consistent commit messages is very important to ensuring traceability and usability of the revision history for software and data products. A little extra consideration and time can go a long way.

  • Issue and Pull Request Creation Best Practices - Creating good Github issue and pull request names and descriptions, and providing sufficient associated test data is very help in providing a streamlined, robust issue tracking system. A little extra consideration and time can go a long way.

Github Tutorials

Github has many tutorials and exampels through Github Learning Lab.

We also have a Tutorials to test using the LDD Repositories.

Github Notifications

Here is some more info on how to manage your GitHub Notifications and setting up email filters to help manage them.

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Github Tips and Tricks

  • Push and Pull often - Pushing and pulling often with your repositories ensures you are regularly up-to-date with the Github repo. Leaving files sitting around partially modified, and/or pulling once a month on your Github repo is how issues happen. You get out of sync with updates as they happen, which can have lots of negative consequences. If in doubt, pull then push.

  • Commit messages are worth a few minutes - Good commit messages really help debug decision making and solutions in the future. They can also help self-document the updates. As much as possible, take some time to make good commit messages. See PDS Commit Message Best Practices for more details.