Overview

Teaching: 5 min
Exercises: 30 min

Questions

How do you connect a local repository with GitHub?

How do you connect a remote repository with your local computer?

Objectives

Enabling collaborations by pushing

How to submit small changes using pull requests

How to propose and submit larger changes

How to review and discuss changes

Warning: This lesson may not work

The preparations for this episode was unintentionally left out of the precourse instructions. Please refer to the Local versioning with Git in GitHub Desktop instead. The course organisers will follow-up with instructions to make this exercise work as described.

About this episode

In this last section we will practice two cases:

How to connect your local repository in RStudio with GitHub.

How to connect your remote repository on GitHub with your local repository in RStudio.

Furthermore, we will try how we can push and pull commits in different scenarios.

Example 1: How to push your local repository to GitHub?

In the first section of this module we stated that no command-line should be used. Well, that is almost true. In order to push an existing RStudio project to GitHub we need to copy two lines of code into the so called shell of RStudio.

Open your web browser and navigate to GitHub.
Create a new repository
Give the repository the same name as your RStudio project.
Uncheck the option “Initialize this repository with a README”.
Click on “Create Repository”.
Copy the lines of code from the box labeled “Push an existing repository from the command line”.
Open your existing project in RStudio.
Verify that the Git tab is active and using Git.
Open a shell in RStudio by clicking on “Tools” -> “Shell”.
Paste the lines of code that you copied earlier into the shell and press enter.

You have now pushed your local repository to GitHub. Refresh the repository in your web browser and peruse your achievements! From now on you can work in RStudio as usual. When you make new commits you can also push them to GitHub.

Example 2: How to clone your remote repository from GitHub to your local computer in RStudio?

Suppose you initially set up a repository on GitHub to begin versioning your project. If you later decide to continue working on your project using RStudio instead of the GitHub web interface, you can create a “New Project” in RStudio and clone your GitHub repository. The process is similar to the steps outlined in the second section, where we initiated versioning locally on your computer. However, instead of creating a “New Directory” we choose “Version Control”.

Copy the URL from your GitHub repository
Start a New Project and choose Version Control.
Choose Git.
Copy the URL from your GitHub repository to “Repository URL” and choose a convenient location for the new project.
Click on Create Project

Done! You have now connected your GitHub repository with your local computer. From now on you can work in RStudio as usual. When you make new commits you can also push them to GitHub.

1. Copy the URL from your GitHub repository

2. Start a New Project in RStudio and choose Version Control

3. Choose Git

4. Paste the URL from your GitHub repository and choose a convenient location for the new project.

Try to make a new commit in your local repository and push it to your remote repository. Update your GitHub page and see what has happened. How can you do the other way around?