Creating a new repository

Before we can use git, we need to create a repo. To create a repo use the git init command.

But, before we do that, we also need to create a new or use an existing directory to store our files. There can be no existing version control in the directory.

When inside the directory, type git init to create a new repository. Notice it will create a .git directory.

Exercise: Create a new repository

Create a new git repo my-git-repo in a new directory. You can put this anywhere as long as it is not in an existing git repo.

Solution: Create a new repository

mkdir my-git-repo
cd my-git-repo
git init

Everything is in the repository

Every single git repo comes with a .git directory. This directory contains all the information about the repository.

This means, if you delete the .git directory, you will lose all the history and changes. But it is also how you can remove git from a directory.

Exercise: Verify the git repository

Verify that you have created a repository by listing out the files and directories in the git state directory.

Solution: Verify the git repository

From within my-git-repo, run find .git:

Output:

.git
.git/config
.git/objects
.git/objects/pack
.git/objects/info
.git/HEAD
.git/info
.git/info/exclude
.git/description
.git/hooks
.git/hooks/commit-msg.sample
.git/hooks/pre-rebase.sample
.git/hooks/sendemail-validate.sample
.git/hooks/pre-commit.sample
.git/hooks/applypatch-msg.sample
.git/hooks/fsmonitor-watchman.sample
.git/hooks/pre-receive.sample
.git/hooks/prepare-commit-msg.sample
.git/hooks/post-update.sample
.git/hooks/pre-merge-commit.sample
.git/hooks/pre-applypatch.sample
.git/hooks/pre-push.sample
.git/hooks/update.sample
.git/hooks/push-to-checkout.sample
.git/refs
.git/refs/heads
.git/refs/tags

This is basically what peak empty git repository looks like.

Essentially git is stateless. Every time we run a command, git has to figure out where we are and what has changed etc.

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