Version Control with GitHub

Description:

We want to keep track of our work in a place that we can also share it with our collaborators, and eventually with the public.

GitHub is a version control system which tracks changes to code and shares it across teams. While it is predominantly used by software engineers, it is increasingly used by researchers in open science, for the same reasons.

Create a new Repository

1. Log into GitHub with your GitHub username

2. click on the + icon in the upper right of the screen.

Select ‘New Repository’

3. Give the new repository a name, e.g. neon-aop-workshop

If you have an existing repo with this name it will be disallowed.

4. Allow the repository to be “Public” – if you want, you can make it “Private”, and it will add the requirement that you authenticate to GitHub everytime you want to clone the repository somewhere else.

5. Select the option to create a README.md file with the repository. This will create a blank markdown file that you can populate with text later.

6. (Optional) Select a License for your code

Choosing a license is important to ensuring that your work is properly attributed and cited in the future.

Choosing a License

choosealicense.com offers support and answers questions about selecting the right license.

7. You’re ready to go back to your CyVerse RStudio browser tab.

Clone your Repository into RStudio Server running in CyVerse

RStudio can create a R Project using Version Control with git or svn (another version control platform).

Creating a R project with Version Control will allow you to sync changes back up to GitHub while you’re working and when you’re finished.

git also allows you to pull other GitHub repositories and work with existing code and analysis notebooks, thus enabling repeatability.

8. In RStudio, select ‘File’ then ‘New Project’ and then ‘Version Control’

9. The repository will be copied onto your instance and you’ll be in a directory with a new R project file.

This is a local copy of the git repository from GitHub.

Any changes thare are made locally on this machine will not affect the GitHub repository from which you got this.

10. Adding new files to the repository.

Now that there is a copy of the repo on your instance, you’re ready to start making changes and adding new scripts.

11. Updating a .gitignore file

git is useful for tracking code – but it is not intended to track your data files.

The best practice is to NOT keep your data in the same directory as the git repository.

However, you can add a .gitignore file and update it with the various types of files you want git to not track or to submit back to GitHub when you commit your changes.

When you use R Studio to create a Version Control project, it will generate a .gitignore file for you. The default files that it will ignore are related to your local R Studio environment:
.Rproj.user
.Rhistory
.RData
.Ruserdata
You can update the .gitignore file so that it will also NOT track data type files:
.Rproj.user
.Rhistory
.RData
.Ruserdata
*.csv
*.tif
*.laz
*.las
*.hdf5
*.hd
*.txt
this .gitignore will ignore all files with the * and given file extensions.

An alternate way of making sure that you track your files is to include ! only certain file types:
# ignores everything ...
/*
# ... but the following
!*.R
!*.Rmd
!*.Rproj
If you own the GitHub repository, you will be able to make changes “commits” to the repository and “push” them back to the GitHub.

If you pulled this repository from someone else, and you make commits and submit a “push” it back to the other person’s GitHub, it will ask you to enter some user identification.

This process creates something called a “pull request” on GitHub, where the owner of the repository can see who made the changes, and review whether or not they agree with these changes. They can then choose to approve the request, and the changes will update their repository.

Add your code to the Repository

12. Copy the contents of our other NEON exercises into the new directory.

These new files are not yet added to the git module tracking.

13. Configure git for the first time

Because we’re working on a remote instance, the git configuration has not been set.

To configure git for sending requests to GitHub, set the email address and a name for your remote:
git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "[email protected]"

14. Create a new “Branch”

The repository has a version called master

Create a new branch called main

We’ll do this in the RStudio Git menu, but it can also be done in the terminal:
git checkout -b main

15. Add tracking for the new files in the repository and create a “commit” message

RStudio’s Git integration should show you which files are not tracked by git. You can select the check boxes for each file and add them.

You need to create a “commit” message which briefly explains the changes you’re about to make.

16. Push your changes to the GitHub.

Your updates are now ready to be submitted to the GitHub from RStudio.

Because you’re sending these files from a remote computer, your changes will not automatically be accepted by the GitHub.

Review and Accept your own Pull Request

17. Review and Accept your own “Pull Request”

Go to your GitHub user profile and select the repository.

Your changes should now be registered as a “Pull Request”

You will see your “commit” message, and be able to review the new files and file changes.

18. Your files are now saved in GitHub, under a new branch called main

You can safely delete the master branch in RStudio and on GitHub.

On GitHub, above the list of files, click the branches hyperlink, select the master branch and delete it.

Official instructions

Black Lives Matter

Github has stated that they will remove the use of the term master as the default branch name from their platform, but that is not yet the case.

Website js script for changing master to main

Description of output and results

You should now have a tracked version control of your workshop project, with all of the pre-existing scripts. You can re-use this repository on your local computer, or somewhere else in the future.

Hopefully, you now understand how GitHub can be used to share code and analyses, and to do your science!

NEON maintains a large library of pre-written scripts on their GitHub repository: https://github.com/neonscience

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