Referenced Article

For us, in the 7 Days To Die Community, Github is the preferred way to host mods and code, that allows free storage, persistent download links, and a versioning system, so you can see how your mod, or your favorite mod, has evolved over time.

This section will show you how to install and set up GitHub Desktop. We've listed a few words you'll see in this section

Terminology:

Repository:  A repository is the most basic element of GitHub. They're easiest to imagine as a project's folder. A repository contains all of the project files (including documentation), and stores each file's revision history. Repositories can have multiple collaborators and can be either public or private.

This allows multipler modders to work together to update the mod, and share it with others.

Clone: A clone is a copy of a repository that lives on your computer instead of on a website's server somewhere, or the act of making that copy. With your clone you can edit the files in your preferred editor and use Git to keep track of your changes without having to be online. It is, however, connected to the remote version so that changes can be synced between the two. You can push your local changes to the remote to keep them synced when you're online.

A clone makes a local copy so you can download and make changes to it.

Commit: A commit, or "revision", is an individual change to a file (or set of files). It's like when you save a file, except with Git, every time you save it creates a unique ID (a.k.a. the "SHA" or "hash") that allows you to keep record of what changes were made when and by who. Commits usually contain a commit message which is a brief description of what changes were made.

A commit is just update the files online, for a release or when you've finished making changes you want to share.

Fork: A fork is a personal copy of another user's repository that lives on your account. Forks allow you to freely make changes to a project without affecting the original. Forks remain attached to the original, allowing you to submit a pull request to the original's author to update with your changes. You can also keep your fork up to date by pulling in updates from the original.

A fork lets you make changes, or fixes, and then you can send them back to the original author for them to add them.

Organizations: Organizations are shared accounts where businesses and open-source projects can collaborate across many projects at once. Owners and administrators can manage member access to the organization's data and projects with sophisticated security and administrative features.

You can use organizations that separate your user from your project, while still giving you contorl

The “Git” in GitHub

To understand GitHub, you must first have an understanding of Git. Git is an open-source version control system that was started by Linus Trovalds – the same person who created Linux. Git is similar to other version control systems – Subversion, CVS, and Mercurial to name a few.

Version control systems

So, Git is a “version control system,” what’s that mean? When developers are creating something (an application, for example), they are making constant changes to the code and releasing new versions, up to and after the first official (non-beta) release.

Version control systems keep these revisions straight, and store the modifications in a central repository. This allows developers to easily collaborate, as they can download a new version of the software, make changes, and upload the newest revision. Every developer can see these new changes, download them, and contribute.

Similarly, people who have nothing to do with the development of a project can still download the files and use them. Most Linux users should be familiar with this process, as using Git, Subversion, or some other similar method is pretty common for downloading needed files, especially in preparation for compiling a program from source code (a rather common practice for Linux geeks).

In case you are wondering why Git is the preferred version control system of most developers, it has multiple advantages over the other systems available, including a more efficient way to store file changes and ensuring file integrity. If you’re interested in knowing the details, check out this page to read a thorough explanation on how Git works.

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