Initial Git setup

Configuring Git (minimum)

At a minimum, you must configure Git to tell it your name and email address. Your name and email address will be associated with all commits that you make into the MPI Forum's repository.

Do this by running the following commands (substitute your actual name and email address as relevant):

$ git config --global user.name "YOUR NAME"
$ git config --global user.email "YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS"

On Linux, the above two commands will create or edit the $HOME/.gitconfig file. It's a simple text file that can also be edited with your favorite text editor.

Configuring Git (recommended)

You can also place the following in your $HOME/.gitconfig file. These are all optional, but several of us find them useful.

[color]
        diff = auto
        status = auto
        branch = auto
        ui = auto

# Helps to distinguish between changed and untracked files
[color "status"]
        added = green
        changed = red
        untracked = magenta

# Allows git to create 8-character abbreviated hashes and
# highlight extra whitespace.
[core]
        whitespace = trailing-space,space-before-tab,indent-with-tab
        abbrev = 8

# Allows better view of commits.
[alias]
        graph = log --graph --decorate --abbrev-commit --pretty=oneline