Set up a Git repository

Check out a project from a remote host (clone)

MPS allows you to check out (in Git terms clone) an existing repository and create a new project based on the data you've downloaded.

Put an existing project under Git version control

You can create a local Git repository based on an existing project sources.

After you have initialized a Git repository for your project, you need to add project files to the repository.

When Git integration is enabled in your project, MPS suggests adding each newly created file under Git, even if it was added from outside MPS. You can change this behavior in the Version Control | Confirmation page of the Settings/Preferences Ctrl+Alt+S. If you want certain files to always remain unversioned, you can ignore them.

note

If you attempt to add a file that's on the .gitignore list, MPS will suggest force adding it. Clicking Cancel in the confirmation dialog only cancels force adding ignored files - all other files will be added to the Git repository.

Exclude files from version control (ignore)

Sometimes you may need to leave certain files unversioned. These can be VCS administration files, artifacts of utilities, backup copies, and so on. You can ignore files through MPS, and the IDE will not suggest adding them to Git and will highlight them as ignored.

You can only ignore unversioned files, that is files that you see in the Unversioned Files changelist. If a file is added to Git but not committed, you can right-click it in the Local Changes view and choose Rollback.

Git lets you list ignored file patterns in two kinds of configuration files:

• .git/info/exclude file.
  Patterns listed in this file only apply to the local copy of the repository.

  This file is created automatically when you initialize or check out a Git repository.

• One or more .gitignore files in the VCS root directory and its subdirectories.
  These files are checked into the repository so that the ignore patterns in them are available to the entire team. Therefore, it is a most common place to store the ignored file patterns.

  If there is no .gitignore file in the VCS root directory, you can right-click anywhere in the Project window, choose New | File and type .gitignore in the New File dialog.

  tip

  To create a .gitignore file in Windows Explorer, create a file named .gitignore. and Windows will rename it automatically to .gitignore.

If you need to exclude files by a certain pattern, or files of a certain type, you can edit the .gitignore or .git/info/exclude file directly. See .gitignore patterns format

tip

If you want ignored files to be also displayed in the Local Changes view, click on the toolbar and select Show Ignored Files.

A typical .gitignore file that excludes the generated files may look like this:

workspace.xml
junitvmwatcher*.properties
build.properties

# generated java classes and java source files
#   manually add any custom artifacts that can't be generated from the models
#   http://confluence.jetbrains.com/display/MPSD25/HowTo+--+MPS+and+Git
classes_gen
source_gen
source_gen.caches

# generated test code and test results
test_gen
test_gen.caches
TEST-*.xml
junit*.properties

Check project status

MPS allows you to check the status of your local working copy compared to the repository version of the project. It uses specific colors to let you see which files have been modified, which new files have been added to the VCS, and which files are not being tracked by Git.

Open the Local Changes view.

• The Default changelist shows all files that have been modified since you last synchronized with the remote repository (highlighted in blue), and all new files that have been added to the VCS but have not been committed yet (highlighted in green).

• The Unversioned Files changelist shows all files that have been added to your project, but that are not being tracked by Git.

For more info on changelists, see Group changes into different changelists.

Track changes to a file in the editor

You can also track changes to a file as you modify it in the editor. All changes are highlighted with change markers that appear in the gutter next to the modified lines, and show the type of changes introduced since you last synchronized with the repository. When you commit changes to the repository, change markers disappear.

The changes you introduce to the text are color-coded:

• line added.

• line changed.

• line deleted.

tip

You can customize the default colors for line statuses on the Editor | Color Scheme | VCS page of the Settings/Preferences Ctrl+Alt+S.

To disable VCS markers in the gutter, deselect the Highlight modified lines in the gutter option on the Editor | General page of the Settings/Preferences Ctrl+Alt+S.

You can manage changes using a toolbar that appears when you hover the mouse cursor over a change marker and then click it. The toolbar is displayed together with a frame showing the previous contents of the modified line:

You can roll back changes by clicking and explore the differences between the current and the repository version of the current line by clicking .

Instead of reverting the whole file, you can copy any part of the contents of this popup and paste it into the editor.

Add a remote repository

If you created a Git repository based on local sources, you need to add a remote repository to be able to collaborate on your Git project, as well as to eliminate the risks of storing all of your codebase locally. You push changes to a remote repository when you need to share your work and pull data from it to integrate changes made by other contributors into your local repository version.

If you have cloned a remote Git repository, for example from GitHub, the remote is configured automatically and you do not have to specify it when you want to sync with it. The default name Git gives to the remote you've cloned from is origin.

For information on how to share project settings for different project formats, see.

• To edit a remote (for example, to change the name of the original project that you have cloned), right-click the remote branch in the Branches pane of the Git Log tool window, and select Edit Remote from the context menu.

  You can also edit a remote from the Push Dialog by clicking its name.

• To remove a repository that is no longer valid, right-click it in the Branches pane of the Git Log tool window, and select Remove Remote from the context menu.

Learn more from this video: