See also: Ciro Santilli's minor projects.
This is a quick presentation that goes over some of the most common difficulties people find with Git.
This is the most important thing to understand Git!
You must:
- be able to visualize the commit tree
- understand how each git command modifies the commit DAG
Some people like merges, but they are ugly and stupid. Rebase instead and keep linear history.
Linear history:
5 master
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1 first commitBranched history:
7 master
|\
| \
6 \
|\ \
| | |
3 4 5
| | |
| / /
|/ /
2 /
| /
1/ first commitWhich type of tree do you think will be easier to understand and maintain?
????
????????????
You may disconnect now if you still like branched history.
Generate a minimal test repo. You should get in the habit of doing this to test stuff out.
#!/usr/bin/env bash
mkdir git-tips
cd git-tips
git init
for i in 1 2 3 4 5; do
echo $i > f
git add f
git commit -m $i
done
git checkout HEAD~2
git checkout -b my-feature
for i in 6 7; do
echo $i > f
git add f
git commit -m $i
done
For the strong.
git log --abbrev-commit --decorate --graph --pretty=oneline master HEADOutput:
* b4ec057 (master) 5
* 0b37c1b 4
| * fbfbfe8 (HEAD -> my-feature) 7
| * 7b0f59d 6
|/
* 661cfab 3
* 6d748a9 2
* c5f8a2c 1If we also add the As we can see, this removes any commit that is neither:
--simplify-by-decoration, which you very often want want on a real repository with many commits:* b4ec057 (master) 5
| * fbfbfe8 (HEAD -> my-feature) 7
|/
* c5f8a2c 1- under a branch or tag
- at the intersection of too branches or tags
Before:
5 master
|
4 7 my-feature HEAD
| |
3 6
|/
2
|
1Action:
git rebaseAfter:Ready to push with linear history!
7 my-feature HEAD
|
6
|
5 master
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1Before:
7 my-feature HEAD
|
6
|
5 master
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1Oh, commit 6 was crap:
git rebase -i HEAD~2Mark
6 to be modified.After:Better now, ready to push.
7 my-feature HEAD
|
6v2
|
5 master
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1Oh but there are usually 2 trees: local and remote.
So you also have to learn how to observe and modify and sync with the remote tree!
But basically:to update the remote tree. And then you can use it exactly like any other branch, except you prefix them with the remote (usually
git fetchorigin/*), e.g.:origin/masteris the latest fetch of the remote version ofmasterorigin/my-featureis the latest fetch of the remote version ofmy-feature
In order to solve conflicts, you just have to understand what commit you are trying to move where.
E.g. if from:we do:what happens step by step is first 6 is moved on top of 5:and then 7 is moved on top of the new 6:
5 master
|
4 7 my-feature HEAD
| |
3 6
|/
2
|
1git rebase master6on5 HEAD
|
5 master
|
4 7 my-feature
| |
3 6
| |
2-----------------+
|
17on5 HEAD
|
6on5
|
5 master
|
4 7 my-feature
| |
3 6
| |
2-----------------+
|
17on5 my-feature HEAD
|
6on5
|
5 master
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1 Git tips The key to solve conflicts: see the two conflicting diffs by 
Ciro Santilli 40 Updated 2025-07-16
Ciro Santilli 40 Updated 2025-07-16The key to solve conflicts is:
You have to understand what are the two commits that touched a given line (one from master, one from features), and then combine them somehow.
Pinned article: Introduction to the OurBigBook Project
Welcome to the OurBigBook Project! Our goal is to create the perfect publishing platform for STEM subjects, and get university-level students to write the best free STEM tutorials ever.
Everyone is welcome to create an account and play with the site: ourbigbook.com/go/register. We belive that students themselves can write amazing tutorials, but teachers are welcome too. You can write about anything you want, it doesn't have to be STEM or even educational. Silly test content is very welcome and you won't be penalized in any way. Just keep it legal!
Intro to OurBigBook
. Source. We have two killer features:
- topics: topics group articles by different users with the same title, e.g. here is the topic for the "Fundamental Theorem of Calculus" ourbigbook.com/go/topic/fundamental-theorem-of-calculusArticles of different users are sorted by upvote within each article page. This feature is a bit like:
- a Wikipedia where each user can have their own version of each article
- a Q&A website like Stack Overflow, where multiple people can give their views on a given topic, and the best ones are sorted by upvote. Except you don't need to wait for someone to ask first, and any topic goes, no matter how narrow or broad
This feature makes it possible for readers to find better explanations of any topic created by other writers. And it allows writers to create an explanation in a place that readers might actually find it.
Figure 1. Screenshot of the "Derivative" topic page. View it live at: ourbigbook.com/go/topic/derivativeVideo 2. OurBigBook Web topics demo. Source. - local editing: you can store all your personal knowledge base content locally in a plaintext markup format that can be edited locally and published either:This way you can be sure that even if OurBigBook.com were to go down one day (which we have no plans to do as it is quite cheap to host!), your content will still be perfectly readable as a static site.
- to OurBigBook.com to get awesome multi-user features like topics and likes
- as HTML files to a static website, which you can host yourself for free on many external providers like GitHub Pages, and remain in full control
Figure 3. Visual Studio Code extension installation.
Figure 4. Visual Studio Code extension tree navigation.
Figure 5. Web editor. You can also edit articles on the Web editor without installing anything locally.Video 3. Edit locally and publish demo. Source. This shows editing OurBigBook Markup and publishing it using the Visual Studio Code extension.Video 4. OurBigBook Visual Studio Code extension editing and navigation demo. Source. 
- Infinitely deep tables of contents:
All our software is open source and hosted at: github.com/ourbigbook/ourbigbook
Further documentation can be found at: docs.ourbigbook.com
Feel free to reach our to us for any help or suggestions: docs.ourbigbook.com/#contact