Git With Eclipse (EGit) - Tutorial

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by Lars Vogel

Git with Eclipse (EGit) - Tutorial

Lars Vogel

Version 3.1

Copyright © 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 Lars Vogel

13.01.2013

Revision History

Revision 0.1 11.12.2009 Lars

Vogel

Created

Revision 0.2 - 3.1 12.12.2009 - 13.01.2013 Lars

Vogel

bug fixes and enhancements

Git with Eclipse (EGit)

This tutorial describes the usage of EGit; an Eclipse plug-in to use the distributed version control

system Git. This tutorial is based on Eclipse 4.2 (Juno).

Table of Contents

1. What is EGit

2. Command line Git

3. EGit Installation

4. Setting up EGit

5. Using EGit for a local Git repository

5.1. Overview

5.2. Creating an Eclipse project

5.3. Creating a local Git repository

5.4. Create .gitignore file

5.5. Initial commit

5.6. Making changes and commiting them

5.7. Commmiting files directly

5.8. Show changes

6. Commit messages

6.1. Importance of Git commit messages

6.2. Guidelines for useful commit messages

6.3. Example

7. Repository view

8. Clone existing project

9. Using EGit

9.1. Basic operations

9.2. Merge

9.3. Solving Merge Conflicts

9.4. Git amend

9.5. View the resource history

10. Branching

10.1. What are branches?

10.2. Switch Branches

11. Create Patches

12. Blame annotations

13. Stash support for uncommited changes

13.1. Stash to save uncommitted changes

13.2. Stash via the Git repository view

14. Git repository for multiple projects

14.1. Create a new repository

14.2. Add a project to an existing Git repository

15. Tutorial: Create Git repository for multiple projects

16. Using EGit with Github

vogella.com Tutorials Training Services Publications Connect

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Git with Eclipse (EGit) - Tutorial http://www.vogella.com/articles/EGit/article.html

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16.3. Push project to Github

16.4. Clone repository from Github

17. Mylyn integration with Github

18. Hacking EGit - Getting the source code

19. Thank you

20. Questions and Discussion

21. Links and Literature

21.1. EGit and Git Resources

21.2. vogella Resources

1. What is EGit

EGit is an Eclipse plug-in (software component) which allows you to use the distributed version control

system Git directly within the Eclipse IDE. .

EGit is based on the JGit library. JGit is a library which implements the Git functionality in Java.

2. Command line Git

This tutorial describes the usage of EGit. If you want to learn about the usage of the Git command line

you can use the Git Tutorial as a reference.

This tutorial also explains the basic Git terminology, e.g. what is a commit, branch, etc.

3. EGit Installation

EGit can be installed into every Eclipse IDE installation. Most Eclipse 4.2 packages from Eclipse.org

contain EGit in there default configuration. In this case no additional installation is required.

If EGit is missing in your Eclipse installation, you can install it via the Eclipse Update Manager via: Help

→ Install new Software. EGit can be installed from the following URL.

http://download.eclipse.org/egit/updates

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4. Setting up EGit

EGit allow you to configure your default user and email address for each commit. To setup your user

and email address select Window → Preferences → Team → Git → Configuration

EGit will automatically read your default .gitconfig in which your global Git settings are stored.

You can add entries via pressing the Add Entries button. To add your user, use the user.name as key

and your real name as value. Repeat the procedure via your email address.

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You can add more values in this dialog. These values are also valid for the Git command line in case

you are also using the command line.

5. Using EGit for a local Git repository

5.1. Overview

The following section explains how to create a local Git repository for one Eclipse project with EGit.

This allows you to keep locally track of change you do to your repository and allows you to revert to

another state at a later point in time.

5.2. Creating an Eclipse project

Create a new Java project called de.vogella.git.first in Eclipse. Create the de.vogella.git.first

package and the following class.

package de.vogella.git.first;

public class GitTest { public static void main(String[] args) { System.out.println("Git is fun");

}

}

5.3. Creating a local Git repository

To put your new project under version control with Git, right click on your project, select Team → Share

Project → Git.BACK TO TOP



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On the next dialog press the Create button.

EGit will propose an directory outside your workspace. It is recommended to place your Git repositories

outside the Eclipse workspace to avoid that you add unwanted data created by the Eclipse IDE. Enter

your project name as Name for your local Git repository. Select the Finish button.

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After pressing Finish the The wizard shows you the settings for your local Git repository. Select the

Finish button to put your repository under Git version control.

You have created a local Git repository. The Git repository is in this case directly stored in the specified

folder in a .git folder. The following screenshot shows the directory structure .

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5.4. Create .gitignore file

Git can be configured to ignore certain files and directories. This is configured via the .gitignore file.

Create a .gitignore file in your project with the following content.

bin

.metadata

All files and directories which apply to the pattern described in this file will be ignored by Git. In this

example all files in the bin and the .metadata directory will be ignored.

You can also use EGit to add files and folder to a local .gitignore via right-mouse click on the file or

folder and by selecting Team → Ignore but the Git convension is to have one .gitignore in the root

directly which describes the files which should get ignored.

5.5. Initial commit

EGit gives you several option to stage and commit your files. The Git Staging View is an convinient

way for staging and commiting changes.

Open the Git Staging View via the menu Window → Show View → Other → Git → Git Staging.

In this View select all files which have changed and drag them into the Staged Changes area.

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Write a descriptive commmit message and press the Commit button which is hightlighted in the

following screenshot.

Now the first version of your Java project is under version control. If you don't experience any hardware

error you data is now savely stored in your Git repository and you can always restore your Eclipse

project to this initial point.

5.6. Making changes and commiting them

Change the System.out.println message in your GitTest class.

package de.vogella.git.first;

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public static void main(String[] args) { System.out.println("Git is cool");

}

}

Also create a new file called readme.txt

We want to commit the changes of GitTest class but not add and commit the readme.txt file to the

Git repository.

Using the Git Staging View drag only the GitTest class into the Staged Changes area, write a good

commit message and press the commit button.

This change is now also stored in your local Git repository.

5.7. Commmiting files directly

Alternatively to using the Git Staging View you can committed changes of individual files, by selecting

the file, right-mouse clicking on it and selecting Team → Commmit

5.8. Show changes

Open the Git repository view via the following menu entries: Window → Show View → Other → Git →

Git Staging.

Select your project, right click on it and select Show in → History to see the timeline of changes.

If you select a commit you see the commit message and the involved files.

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Via right mouse click on an individual file you can compare this file with its ancestor (the commit before

that) or with the current version in the workspace.

6. Commit messages

6.1. Importance of Git commit messages

The commit message describes the changes done by a commit and is used as the first point of

checking the history of a Git repository.

A commit message should therefore be descriptive and informative without repeating the code

changes.

6.2. Guidelines for useful commit messages

A commit message should have a header and a body. The header should be less than 50 characters

and the body should wrap its text at 72 so that the commit messages is displayed well on the

command line. The body should be separated by the header with an empty line.

The body should contain the reason why the change was made.

The commit message should be in present tense, e.g. "Add better error handling" instead of "Added

better error handling".

6.3. Example

The following can serve as an example for a commit message.

Short summary (less than 50 characters)

Detailed explanation, if required, line break at around 72 charactersmore stuff to describe...

7. Repository view

EGit has a Git repository view which allow you to browse your repositories, checkout projects and

manage your branches.

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8. Clone existing project

EGit allows to clone an existing Git repository.

Select File → Import → Git → Project from Git.

Select URI in the next dialog.

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Press clone and enter the URL to your Git repository. Git supports several protocols, e.g. git:// and

https://. You only have to paste the URL to the first line of the dialog, the rest will be filled out

automatically.

Please note that some proxy servers block the git:// protocol. If you face issues, please try to use the

https:// protocol.

For example the following URI can be used to clone the example projects of the Eclipse 4 application

development book: [email protected]:vogella/eclipse4book.git

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After pressing next the system will allow you to import the existing branches. You should select at least

master as this is typically the main development branch.

The next dialog allows you to specify where the project should be copied to and which branch should

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After the Git repository is cloned, EGit opens an additional import dialog which allows to import the

Eclipse projects from the Git repository.

Once this dialog is completed, you have checked out (cloned) the projects into a local Git repository

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9. Using EGit

9.1. Basic operations

Once you have placed a project under version control you can start using team operations on your

project. The team operations are available via right mouse click on your project. You can:

Select Team → Add, on the project node to add all files to version control.

Select "Team" -> "Commit", to commit your changes to the local Git repository.

Select "Team" -> "Push" to push your change to a remote Git repository (see the GitHub chapter).

"Team" -> "Tag" allows you to create and manage tags.

9.2. Merge

EGit supports merging of branches to add the changes of one branch into another if this branch has

not been changed. Select your project and Team → Merge to start the merge dialog.

9.3. Solving Merge Conflicts

If you pull in changes or merge a branch and you have conflicting changes, EGit will highlight the

affected files. EGit also supports the resolution of these merge conflicts.

Right click on a file with merge conflicts and select Team → Merge Tool.

This opens a dialog, asking you which merge mode you would like to use. The easiest way to see the

conflicting changes is to use the Use HEAD (the last local version) of conflicting files as merge mode.

This way you see the original changes on the left side and the conflicting changes on the right side.

You can manually edit the text on the left side or use the Copy current change from right to left button

to copy the conflicting changes from right to left.

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Once you have manually merged the changes, select Team → Add from the context menu of the

resource to mark the conflicts as resolved and commit the merge resolution via Team → Commit.

9.4. Git amend

Git amend allows to adjust the last commit. For example you can change the commit message. The Git

Staging view allows to perform the Git amend command via the the highlighted button in the following

screenshot.

9.5. View the resource history

Select a resource and select Show in (Alt+Shift+W) -> History to see the commit history of this

resource.

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ų

10. Branching

10.1. What are branches?

Git allows you to create branches, i.e. independent copies of the source code which can be changed

independently from each other. The default branch is called master.

Git allows you to create branches very fast and cheaply in terms of resource consumption. Developers

are encouraged to use branches frequently.

10.2. Switch Branches

Right-click your project and select Team → Branch to create new branches or to switch between

existing branches.

11. Create Patches

A patch is a text file which contains instructions how to update a set of files to a different state.

If you use Git you can create a patch for the changes you did and this patch can be applied on another

Git repository.

To create a patch for a set of changes with EGit, select the elements which should be include in the

patch in the package explorer, right click on it and select Team → Create Patch

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This file can be used to get applied to another Git repository, via Team → Apply Patch

12. Blame annotationsBACK TO TOP



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this, right click on your file and select Team → Show Annotations.

Afterwards you can place the mouse on the left side of the editor and a popup will show the commit

information.

13. Stash support for uncommited changes

13.1. Stash to save uncommitted changes

Git provides the stash command which allows to save the current uncommmitted changes and

checkout the last committed revision.

This allows you to pull in the latest changes or to develop an urgent fix. Afterwards you can restore the

stashed changes, which will reapply the changes to the current version of the source code.

In general using the stash command should be the exception in using Git. Typically you would create

new branches for new features and switch between branches.

13.2. Stash via the Git repository view

Stashing is available in the Git repository View.

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14. Git repository for multiple projects

14.1. Create a new repository

Eclipse allows to work with projects which are not included in the workspace.

To put several Eclipse projects into the same Git repository you can create a folder inside or outside

your workspace and create the projects inside this folder. You can create a Git repository for this folder

and all projects in this folder will be handled by the same repository. The best practice is to put the Git

repository outsite of the Eclipse workspace.

You can import these projects into your workspace via File → Import → Git → Projects from Git

14.2. Add a project to an existing Git repository

To add a new Eclipse project to an existing Git repository, select the project, right click on it and select

Team → Share → Git and select the existing Git repository.

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EGit moves the projects to the repository and imports the project automatically into your workspace.

15. Tutorial: Create Git repository for multiple

projects

Create two Java projects called de.vogella.egit.multi.java1 and de.vogella.egit.multi.java2. Do not use

the default location (which would be the workspace) but use a subfolder called gitmulti.

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Create at least on Java class in each project. Git is not able to save empty folders.

Afterwards select both projects, right click on them and select Team → Share → Git.

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You create a new Git repository which contains both projects.

16. Using EGit with Github

16.1. Github

Github is a popular hosting provider for Git projects and if you repository is public to everyone Github

hosting is free. To use GitHub create an account on the Github Website. During the sign-up you will

be asked to provide a "passphase". This "passphase" is later needed to push to Github from your local

repository.

16.2. Create Repository in Github

Create a new repository on Github, e.g. "de.vogella.git.github".

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ų

After creation of your new repository Github tells you what to do if you would inport via the command

line. As we are going to use EGit we can ignore this information.

16.3. Push project to Github

Create a new project "de.vogella.git.github" and put it under version control. Right-mouse click on your

project and select "Team" -> "Push". A dialog pops up. Maintain the following data. Adjust the

hightlighted line so that you are using your user and your project name.

git+ssh://[email protected]/vogella/de.vogella.git.github

Maintain your passphase which you maintained during the Github setup.

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Select your branch (you should currently only have master if you followed my tutorial), press "Add all

branches spec" and select next.

Press finish.

If you now select your github Dashboard and then your project you should see the commited files.BACK TO TOP



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16.4. Clone repository from Github

Use the same URI you use to push to Github to clone the project into another workspace.

17. Mylyn integration with Github

Eclipse Mylyn is a productively tool for programmers. There is a GitHub connector for Mylyn available,

please see http://wiki.eclipse.org/EGit/GitHub/UserGuide for details. .

18. Hacking EGit - Getting the source code

EGit is self-hosted on git://egit.eclipse.org. You can clone the EGit code from the repository using

EGit using the following URL git://egit.eclipse.org/jgit.git and git://egit.eclipse.org/egit.git.

You also need some libraries from Orbit. See Libraries from Orbit for getting these libraries.

19. Thank you

Please help me to support this article:

20. Questions and Discussion

Before posting questions, please see the vogella FAQ. If you have questions or find an error in this

article please use the www.vogella.com Google Group. I have created a short list how to create

good questions which might also help you.

21. Links and Literature

21.1. EGit and Git ResourcesBACK TO TOP



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http://wiki.eclipse.org/EGit/User_Guide EGit User Guide

http://wiki.eclipse.org/EGit/Contributor_Guide EGit contributor guide

Git Tutorial

21.2. vogella Resources

vogella Training Android and Eclipse Training from the vogella team

Android Tutorial Introduction to Android Programming

GWT Tutorial Program in Java and compile to JavaScript and HTML

Eclipse RCP Tutorial Create native applications in Java

JUnit Tutorial Test your application

Git Tutorial Put everything you have under distributed version control system

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Git With Eclipse (EGit) - Tutorial

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