Git in RStudio

Overview

Teaching: 30 min
Exercises: 15 min

Questions

• How can we use Git and GitHub in Rstudio

Objectives

• 1. “become familiar with Rstudio’s Git and GitHub integration”

Requirement

• Install Git
• Install RStudio and be familiar with its operation

Follow along demo:

1. Fork the rr-version-control-demo repository.
2. Clone your forked repository to obtain a local copy of the files into an RStudio project.
3. Edit a file in this repository/project.
4. Stage your changes to be committed.
5. View the diff, and commit your changes, with a commit message.
6. Push your changes to your own fork of the the rr-version-control-demo GitHub repository.

Step 1: Fork:

Fork the rr-version-control-demo repository.

1. Go to the repository at https://github.com/Reproducible-Science-Curriculum/rr-version-control-demo.
2. Click on “Fork”” (on the top right corner).

Now you have a copy of rr-version-control-demo repository in your account, woohoo!

Aside: Where am I?

How can I tell if I am looking at my fork or the original repository?

• Look at the URL.
• Look at the name of the repo on the upper left corner, for your fork it will say: [your-github-name]/rr-version-control-demo forked from Reproducible-Science-Curriculum/rr-version-control-demo

Step 2: Clone

Clone your forked repository to obtain a local copy of the files .

1. In RStudio, go to “File > New Project”
2. Click on “Version Control: Checkout a project from a version control repository”
3. Click on “Git: Clone a project from a repository”
4. Fill in the info:
   • URL: use HTTPS address
   • Create as a subdirectory of: Browse to where you would like to create this folder

Step 3: Edit

Edit a file in this repository/project.

1. Open the file called gdp-life-expectancy.Rmd and knit.
2. Change the analysis_year to another year for which we have data (1952, 1957, 1962, 1967, 1972, 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992, 1997, 2002, 2007), and knit again. Examine the output for changes.

Step 4: Stage

Stage your changes to be committed.

1. Go to the Git pane in RStudio.
2. Stage the changes for gdp-life-expectancy.Rmd and gdp-life-expectancy.html by checking the boxes next to then, and hit Commit.

Don’t worry about the other files that appear in this pane, we’ll get to them in a bit.

Step 5: Commit

View the diff, and commit your changes, with a commit message.

1. In the pop-up window view the diff for the .Rmd file. You can view it for the .HTML file as well if you like.
2. Enter an informative commit message, like “Changed analysis year to X”, and hit Commit.

Step 6: Push

Push your changes to your own fork of the the rr-version-control-demo GitHub repository.

push: When using git push always means pushing commits from your local respository (your computer) to a remote repository (GitHub).

1. Now push your changes to GitHub by hitting Push.
2. Enter login information as needed.

Getting an error? Can’t push? See here under GitHub password. Ask a helper!

More info on the Git pane

File tracking:

• The RStudio Git pane lists every file that’s been added, modified or deleted.

• The icon describes the change:

  • Modified You’ve changed the contents of the file.
  • Untracked: You’ve added a new file that Git hasn’t seen before.
  • Deleted: You’ve deleted a file.
  • Renamed: You’ve renamed a file.

You can get more details about modifications with a :

• Green: added text
• Red: removed text

What’s in my Git pane?

• When you cloned your repo into an RStudio project you got two bonus files that weren’t there before: .gitignore and .rr-version-control-demo.Rproj
• They’re both showing up as untracked since Git hasn’t seen them before. You can stage, commit, and push those files to your repository.
• .rr-version-control-demo.Rproj: This file maintains metadata on the R project.
• .gitignore: Git uses this file to determine which files and directories to ignore, before you make a commit.

Key Points

• RStudio allows for Git and GitHub integration