Hi, I am halfway through with a project. As I am plugging in other people I am starting to worry that I should be able to revert to a previous version if I need to.
Can I make a git repo in my hugo project?
I would run git init in the same directory that contains my config.toml . To avoid potential confusion I have eliminated .git subdirectory from my theme - I am happy with the way theme works and I can fix it if I need to without copying it from themes. Git would track everything in my project, except public/ directory because it is re-generated anew each time.
Does what I want to do seem sensible to the more experienced?
You can see the theme is a git submodule and everything else is in the repository (this is not a requirement but that way you can separate your theme and your website).
You could alternatively have your content directory as another git submodule. This way you can keep the main configuration in a separate repository under your control and give other people access to the content repository to add content/pages/etc.
Thanks, your website is very nice too. Clear and informative.
When you say git submodule - what does that mean? I am getting confused around git in main directory and then another for theme (because themes are often obtained/developed via cloning). How does the workflow incorporate submodules and does that mean that the “main” module/part does not touch what is in submodule?
A git submodule is a like a git repository inside another one. For example, my theme is a git submodule. When I push the code, whatever is in the theme is not stored directly in the website repository. Instead it points to a different git repository instead of saving the contents like a normal directory. If you look at it on Github, you can see that inside my theme/hugo-octopress directory, you can click and it will take you to the theme directory (and a specific commit but do not worry about that).
If it’s something that is slowing you down, do not worry about it, put everything in one git repository and you can revisit later when you are more familiar/comfortable with git.
~/d/logr.cogley.info ❯❯❯ ls -la master
total 36
drwxr-xr-x 17 rcogley staff 544 Jan 25 19:54 .
drwxr-xr-x 82 rcogley staff 2624 Feb 13 09:32 ..
drwxr-xr-x 18 rcogley staff 576 Feb 14 08:47 .git
drwxr-xr-x 4 rcogley staff 128 Jan 24 20:33 archetypes
drwx------ 6 rcogley staff 192 Jan 29 19:35 content
drwx------ 2 rcogley staff 64 Jan 19 23:23 data
drwxr-xr-x 3 rcogley staff 96 Apr 24 2017 i18n
drwxr-xr-x 11 rcogley staff 352 Jan 20 09:15 layouts
drwxrwxr-x 21 rcogley staff 672 Jan 25 19:55 public
drwxr-xr-x 3 rcogley staff 96 Jan 19 23:26 resources
drwxrwxr-x 9 rcogley staff 288 Jan 25 19:55 static
-rw-r--r-- 1 rcogley staff 12292 Jan 29 19:44 .DS_Store
-rwxr-xr-x 1 rcogley staff 485 Apr 4 2017 .editorconfig
-rw-r--r-- 1 rcogley staff 1192 Apr 4 2017 .gitattributes
-rw-r--r-- 1 rcogley staff 782 Jan 17 2018 .gitignore
-rw-r--r-- 1 rcogley staff 185 Jan 19 23:05 README.md
-rw------- 1 rcogley staff 1388 Jan 25 20:30 config.toml
You can see the .git folder in my hugo project above. That gets made when you do git init. Once you get used to using git, you can next try making an empty repository on a service like github, bitbucket, sourcehut etc., then doing a git push origin master to put your files up there. There are a few steps before you can do that, but there is plenty of info on the internet (e.g. search for the “git book”) on using git.
Many people don’t want to store their generated files in the repository, and if you don’t either, you can put your public folder in a .gitignore file at the root of your project. That way it won’t be committed to your repo.
As for experimentation, once you are used to git a bit more, you can make a “branch” for each experiment. If you make a branch called “new-colors” and switch to it, at first it is just a copy of your master branch. Then you make changes and hugo will just use the files of the branch you are switched to. If you like it, you can “merge” the experimental branch into your master branch.
For now, keep the above points in mind and just try it on a non-critical folder, like a copy of your project folder, as you read through, say, the git book. That way you don’t have to worry about messing anything up badly.
Storing files on a repository is a nice thing to know. But, be sure to document and test the entire process including recovery to a previous version. Decide from there if git fits your needs.
I am not trying to dissuade you from using git. It is the standard. But be aware not everyone thinks it’s perfect or easy.
Ah, another consideration: having a git repo locally is not a backup. If you push to a service so you have things distributed, it still isn’t really a backup, but it is better than nothing. Besides pushing to github etc, I also am backing up to a couple places. FYI just another thing to consider.
Thank you all, it is very good to have various inputs from people with experience. I have already started using git. My goal is to work on it for a little while, then test branching and then I will post a summary here as synopsis and aide-memoire for myself.
