Git Access (Including Tokens)
Installing Git
Before your can use git, it needs to be installed on your machine
If you are on a Linux or Macintosh, git should already be installed or can
be installed through the package manager of your OS.
On Windows, follow this link to go to the Git homepage.
Click the blue download button inside the picture of a computer monitor. This screenshot shows the Windows version selected, but the link should automatically be set for whatever operating system you are using.
Using ssh keys and tokens
When you are cloning a private repository, or pushing changes to one, you need to be authenticated by Github. This requires the use of a private (ssh) key or of a token. For your computer at home, we suggest that you create either a private (ssh) key, see instructions, or that you create a classic personal access token (PAT). For shop computers, we suggest that you create a fine-grained access token for a specific repository instead.
Cloning via ssh
On your home machine or personal laptop, if you set up an ssh key, you would use the
ssh method of cloning, as shown below using the example of this repository:
However, when using access tokens, you would be using the https method instead, which
will be explained below.
Creating Access Tokens
To create a classic token for home use, go to Tokens (classic) on github.com. This link should work, if it doesn't, go to Settings, then Developer Settings, then Personal Access Tokens:
Check the repo box, give it a name and an expiration date, and create the token. Once created, copy the key and store it somewhere secure. GitHub will only display it to you once, so it's important to store it elsewhere so that you can use it to authenticate later.
Your token will look like this: ghp_rv4djkhsdfEWIkJHSKJfd787fsRV.
Creating Fine-grained tokens for shop use
The link to create a fine-grained token is here. Enter a name, a description, and make sure to select team401 as resource owner:
Then, select the repository (or repositories) for which the token shall be valid:
Shop tokens shall be valid for only one or two repositories. Finally, click Add Permissions and select Contents, then select Read and Write:
(Metadata is Required and will be added automatically).
Finally, select Generate Token. This will send a request to a team organizer. Let them know about this in person for a quick response!
Team organizers approve the token using this URL.
Once approved, you may start using the token.
Using created tokens.
These instructions apply to both kinds of tokens. Once you have obtained a token,
you are able to use this token as follows.
Whenever you are cloning a Github repository, use the https method (not ssh)
and insert the token in the URL like so: https://token goes here@github.com/team401/.....
For instance, the repo for these Docs is at https://github.com/team401/Docs.git when using the https methods, which is shown here:
You would therefore use
https://ghp_rv4djkhsdfEWIkJHSKJfd787fsRV@github.com/team401/Docs.git to clone it using your token, for instance,
It is also possible to change the method of authentication after the fact. We could use this on shared laptops that may be used by multiple students if they end up working in the same project directory. For instance, to change the current upstream URL of a repo, use
To ensure that commit messages appear under your name, you should also reset the name and email settings for this repo.
For shared shop/pit commits, use
git config --local user.email team401@mcps.org
git config --local user.name "Team 401 shop work@blueridgeramble"
user.name has more than one word.)
Note this method is not necessary if students work in different project directories. In that case, the settings from the active project directory will be used.