Setting up Git #

Setting up Git is essential to keeping track of changes made to our files, collaborating with others, and maintaining our version control. We use the git config (see man page) command to set Git configuration values on a global or local project level. The configuration levels correspond to .gitconfig text files. To set the global commit name and email address, we use the commands

git config --global user.name 'Your Name'
git config --global user.email 'youremail@yourdomain.com'

Git uses this information to specify who made changes to the repository. When we commit changes to the repository, Git records name and email address data in the commit log. It also helps other developers to contact the person if they have any questions or suggestions.

To set up an SSH key for GitHub, you can use your existing SSH keys or generate a new key pair. Add the private key to the SSH agent, and add the public key to your GitHub account settings. You can use the commands “ssh-keygen” and “ssh-add”, to perform these steps. For more details, read the documentation on GitHub.