---
layout: reference
---

<div class="box">
  <h2>Getting and Creating Projects</h2>
  <div class="block">
    <p>
    In order to do anything in Git, you have to have a Git repository.  This
    is where Git stores the data for the snapshots you are saving.
    </p>

    <p>
    There are two main ways to get a Git repository.  One way is to simply
    initialize a new one from an existing directory, such as a new project or
    a project new to source control.  The second way is to clone one from a
    public Git repository, as you would do if you wanted a copy or wanted to
    work with someone on a project.  We will cover both of these here.
    </p>
  </div>
</div>

<div class="box">
  <h2>
    <span class="docs">
      <a href="#">docs</a> &nbsp;
      <a href="#">book</a>
    </span>
    <a name="init">git init</a>
    <span class="desc">initializes a directory as a Git repository</span>
  </h2>

  <div class="block">
    To create a repository from an existing directory of files, you can
    simply run <code>git init</code> in that directory.  For example,
    let's say we have a directory with a few files in it, like this:

<pre>
$ cd konichiwa
$ ls
README   hello.rb
</pre>

    This is a project where we are writing examples of the "Hello World"
    program in every language.  So far, we just have Ruby, but hey, it's
    a start.  To start version controlling this with Git, we can simply
    run <code>git init</code>.

<pre>
$ git init
Initialized empty Git repository in /opt/konichiwa/.git/
</pre>

    Now you can see that there is a <code>.git</code> subdirectory in your
    project.  This is your Git repository where all the data of your
    project snapshots are stored.

<pre>
$ ls -a
.        ..       .git     README   hello.rb
</pre>

    Congratulations, you now have a skeleton Git repository and can start
    snapshotting your project.

  </div>
</div>

<div class="box">
  <h2>
    <span class="docs">
      <a href="#">docs</a> &nbsp;
      <a href="#">book</a>
    </span>
    <a name="clone">git clone</a>
    <span class="desc">copy a git repository so you can add to it</span>
  </h2>
  <div class="usage">
    git clone (url) [directory]
  </div>
  <div class="block">
    <p>
    If you need to collaborate with someone on a project, or if you want to
    get a copy of a project so you can look at or use the code, you will
    clone it.  You simply run the <code>git clone [url]</code> command with 
    the URL of the project you want to copy.
    </p>

<pre> [example] </pre>

    <p>
    This will copy the entire history of that project so you have it locally
    and it will give you a working directory of the main branch of that project
    so you can look at the code or start editing it.  If you change into the
    new directory, you can see the <code>.git</code> subdirectory - that is
    where all the project data is.
    </p>

<pre> [example] </pre>

    <p>
    By default, Git will create a directory that is the same name as the 
    project in the URL you give it - basically whatever is after the last slash
    of the URL.  If you want something different, you can just put it at the
    end of the command, after the URL.
    </p>

  </div>
</div>

<p><a href="/basic">On to Basic Snapshotting &#187;</a></p>