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Jon Obi
Jon Obi

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git me some help, please :)

So i'm trying to set up git and i'm a little confused. Do i install the github desktop client or use the command line? What are the implications (if there are any)?

Top comments (4)

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bdbchgg profile image
bdbch

It depends what you want to learn. I'd suggest to learn the command line and then decide if you still need the GUI.

The desktop client just simplifies a few things. Are you on Windows?

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itchyonion profile image
Jon Obi

Oh, Okay. So i'm not really missing much with the GUI??. Yes, i'm on windows.

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bdbchgg profile image
bdbch • Edited

The GUI is just a easier way to work with Git for beginners but I'd suggest to take the hard mile and learn the CLI. Just makes working with git much faster afterwards.

Let me know if you need some help!


If you decide not to use the GUI, I also suggest you to create a SSH Key and register it on Github.

If you're on Windows 10 you can use the preinstalled SSH Client for that.

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "your_email@example.com"

You don't need to set a password for the SSH key, just skip it with ENTER.

You can then add the key to Github in your user settings.
You get your public SSH key via

type C:\Users\your_user_name\.ssh\id_rsa.pub

Short explanation: A SSH key is a generated key which replaces the password input by registering a private key (your key which you should never share, and a key which is public therefor "public key").

C:\Users\your_user_name\.ssh\id_rsa.pub is the public key
C:\Users\your_user_name\.ssh\id_rsa is the secret key (keep it private and safe)

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bdbchgg profile image
bdbch

Here my friend, I wrote a post about a simple Git + SSH setup:
dev.to/bdbch/setting-up-ssh-and-gi...