Git Lab Exercise & Assignment: Remote workflow: Part – 2

These exercises aim to give you some practice with using the Git version control system. Each exercise comes in two parts: a main task that most, if not all, course attendees should be able to complete in the allocated time, as well as a stretch task for those who complete the main task quickly.

For this task, you will work in a small group. Between 2 and 4 people is about right.

Main Task
1. First, one person in the group should create a public repository using their GitHub account.
2. This same person should then follow the instructions from GitHub to add a remote, and then push their repository. Do not forget the –u flag, as suggested by GitHub!
3. All of the other members of the group should then be added as collaborators, so they can commit to the repository also.
4. Next, everyone else in the group should clone the repository from GitHub. Verify that the context of the repository is what is expected.
5. One of the group members who just cloned should now make a local commit, then push it. Everyone should verify that when they pull, that commit is added to their local repository (use git log to check for it).
6. Look at each other’s git log output. Notice how the SHA-1 is the same for a given commit across every copy of the repository. Why is this important?
7. Two members of the group should now make a commit locally, and race to push it. To keep things simple, be sure to edit different files. What happens to the runner-up?
8. The runner-up should now pull. As a group, look at the output of the command. Additionally, look at the git log, and notice that there is a merge commit. You may also wish to view the DAG in gitk.
9. Repeat the last two steps a couple of times, to practice.

Stretch Task
1. Now create a situation where two group members both edit the same line in the same file and commit it locally. Race to push.
2. When the runner-up does a pull, they should get a merge conflict.
3. Look as a group at the file in conflict, and resolve it.
4. Use the add command to stage the fix, and then use commit to make the merge commit. Notice how this procedure is exactly the one you got used to when resolving conflicts in branches.

Rajesh Kumar

I’m Rajesh Kumar, a DevOps, SRE, DevSecOps, Cloud, and Platform Engineering expert passionate about sharing practical knowledge, real-world experiences, and industry best practices. I have worked at Cotocus and regularly write about technology, travel, investing, health, product reviews, and digital marketing through my various platforms.

I publish technical articles at DevOps School, travel stories at Holiday Landmark, stock market insights at Stocks Mantra, health and fitness guidance at My Medic Plus, product reviews at TrueReviewNow, and SEO and digital marketing strategies at Wizbrand.