VTK/Git/Simple

Introduction

This document is intended to give the bare minimum to get up and running with VTK, and to develop and commit code to the main VTK repository. There is a one page PDF cheat sheet intended to be a desk reference. Please refer to the general VTK/Git guide for more details on Git configuration, the branchy workflow employed and the topic stage used for integration of topic branches.

All work should be developed in a topic branch, which is branched from the master branch. The topic branch should be staged and merged into master when ready. This facilitates a workflow where big changes can be made, tested and integrated into the mainline development tree (master) when ready for inclusion.

Initial Setup

Assuming you have your SSH key set up correctly. Run the following to clone VTK:

$ git clone git://vtk.org/VTK.git VTK
$ cd VTK
$ ./Utilities/SetupForDevelopment.sh

The last step installs local hooks, adds a topic stage and sets up some useful Git aliases that will be used later.

Updating VTK

To update VTK:

$ git checkout master
$ git pull

Starting a Topic Branch

To start a new topic branch:

$ git fetch
$ git checkout -b my_topic origin/master

Develop on this topic branch, make commits using, (omit the -m to use an editor)

$ git add file1 file2 file3
$ git commit -m 'My commit message....'

Staging and Publishing a Topic to Next and Master

From your topic branch, to merge your change(s) into master:

$ git stage-push
$ git stage-merge

Deleting Topic Branches

Once you are done, you should delete your topic branch (as it is merged into master and complete).

$ git checkout master
$ git pull
$ git branch -d my_topic

The last line will only succeed if you have correctly merged your branch to master. Using -D instead of -d will force the deletion of an unmerged topic branch (warning - you could lose commits).