Demo Initialize Git

In this lesson you’ll initialize a Git repository inside the Blockbuster project folder to start tracking changes, enable easy rollbacks, and keep a clear project history. What you’ll learn:

Verify Git is installed.
Initialize a repository and inspect its status.
Stage and commit files.
Restore deleted files from history.
Configure author identity for commits.

Prerequisites

Git installed on your machine. Many Ubuntu distributions include Git by default.
If you’re unsure, verify with:

git version
# Example output:
# git version 2.34.0

If Git is missing or you want to upgrade, visit https://git-scm.com for installers or use your platform package manager. Common install commands:

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt-get install git
# Or via the official Git PPA
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:git-core/ppa
sudo apt update && sudo apt install git

# RHEL/CentOS / Fedora
sudo yum install git        # older Fedora / CentOS
sudo dnf install git        # newer Fedora

# Gentoo
sudo emerge --ask --verbose dev-vcs/git

# Arch
sudo pacman -S git

Initialize a repository

Change into your project directory (for example, the Blockbuster folder).
Before initialization you should not see a .git directory:

ls -a
# Example output:
# .  ..  README.md  index.html  script.js  style.css

Initialize the repository:

git init
# Example output:
# Initialized empty Git repository in /path/to/Blockbuster/.git/

Confirm the .git directory exists:

ls -a
# Example output:
# .  ..  .git  README.md  index.html  script.js  style.css

Check repository status After initialization, check the repo status to see which files are untracked:

git status
# Example output:
# On branch main
#
# No commits yet
#
# Untracked files:
#   (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
#         README.md
#         index.html
#         script.js
#         style.css
#
# nothing added to commit but untracked files present (use "git add" to track)

Stage files for commit You can stage individual files or stage all current files. To stage everything in the directory:

git add .
git status
# Example output:
# On branch main
#
# No commits yet
#
# Changes to be committed:
#   (use "git rm --cached <file>..." to unstage)
#         new file:   README.md
#         new file:   index.html
#         new file:   script.js
#         new file:   style.css

Commit staged files Create the initial commit with a descriptive message:

git commit -m "initial commit"
# Example output:
# [main (root-commit) 4374c54] initial commit
#  4 files changed, 1472 insertions(+)
#  create mode 100644 README.md
#  create mode 100644 index.html
#  create mode 100644 script.js
#  create mode 100644 style.css

Verify a clean working tree:

git status
# On branch main
# nothing to commit, working tree clean

Restore deleted files from history Git can restore files removed from the working tree if they existed in the last commit.

# Delete the file
rm script.js
ls
# Example output:
# Check status after deletion
git status
# Example output:
# On branch main
# Changes not staged for commit:
#   (use "git add/rm <file>..." to update what will be committed)
#   (use "git restore <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
#         deleted:    script.js
#
# Restore the file from the last commit
git restore script.js

# Verify the working tree is clean again
git status
# On branch main
# nothing to commit, working tree clean

Make a small change and commit Edit README.md (for example, fix a typo), then stage and commit the change:

git status
# On branch main
# Changes not staged for commit:
#   (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
#   (use "git restore <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
git add README.md
git commit -m "fixed a typo mistake"
# Example output:
# [main 5bb781a] fixed a typo mistake
#  1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

Inspect commit history View the commit log to see past commits, authorship, and timestamps:

git log
# Example output:
# commit 5bb781a27c4de1ab63cc6d5966866dfe40e (HEAD -> main)
# Author: admin <admin@local.com>
# Date:   Sun Apr 26 17:14:04 2026 +0000
#
#     fixed a typo mistake
#
# commit 437c45f4e553e10e09a57f2235fa3961c610
# Author: admin <admin@local.com>
# Date:   Sun Apr 26 17:11:49 2026 +0000
#
#     initial commit

Configure author identity Git records the author for every commit using user.name and user.email. You can set these globally (applies to all repositories for your user) or locally (only for the current repository). Set a global identity:

git config --global user.email "siddharth@sid.com"
git config --global user.name "Siddharth"

Or set them only for the current repository:

git config user.email "siddharth@sid.com"
git config user.name "Siddharth"

After updating the config, make another commit and verify the author fields:

git add README.md
git commit -m "updated the main heading"
git log
# Example output:
# commit 4b0f8f3dbf90d36d464cabf874a321646eadc13 (HEAD -> main)
# Author: Siddharth <siddharth@sid.com>
# Date:   Sun Apr 26 17:16:25 2026 +0000
#
#     updated the main heading
#
# commit 5bb781a27c4de1ab63cc6d5966866dfe40e
# Author: admin <admin@local.com>
# Date:   Sun Apr 26 17:14:04 2026 +0000
#
#     fixed a typo mistake
#
# commit 437c45f4e553e10e09a57f2235fa3961c610
# Author: admin <admin@local.com>
# Date:   Sun Apr 26 17:11:49 2026 +0000
#
#     initial commit

If you are working on a shared machine or with multiple identities, prefer using git config --local (inside the repo) to avoid changing your global settings. You can always override per-repository with the local config.

Quick reference — common Git commands

Task	Command
Check Git version	`git version`
Initialize repo	`git init`
Show status	`git status`
Stage all files	`git add .`
Stage a file	`git add README.md`
Commit staged changes	`git commit -m "message"`
Restore file from last commit	`git restore <file>`
View commit history	`git log`
Set global user email	`git config --global user.email "you@example.com"`
Set local user name	`git config user.name "Your Name"`

Links and references

Official Git: https://git-scm.com
Git documentation: https://git-scm.com/doc
Git config documentation: https://git-scm.com/docs/git-config

This completes the basic Git initialization workflow: verify/install Git, initialize the repository, stage and commit files, restore files from history, and configure author identity.

Watch Video

Demo Set Up the Application Without Git

Demo Git Branches

Introduction

Git and GitHub Basics

GitHub Entities

GitHub Markdown

GitHub Desktop

GitHub Mobile

GitHub Repositories

Issues

Pull Requests

Discussions

Notifications

Gists, Wikis, and GitHub Pages

GitHub Actions

GitHub Copilot

GitHub Codespaces

Manage Your Work with GitHub Projects

Authentication and Security

GitHub Administration

Benefits of Open-Source Community

Benefits of Open Source – Applications

Demo Initialize Git

Watch Video