If you’re pulling the latest skeleton code, this will often result in a “merge”, as described in the more advanced sections of the Git Guide.

A text editor will automatically open asking you to provide a message on why you are merging.

On the top line of your text editor, enter a message like “i was just trying to pull new skeleton code” or whatever you’d like. The text you’ll enter will go right above:

# Please enter the commit message for your changes. Lines starting
# with '#' will be ignored, and an empty message aborts the commit.

After entering your message at the very top of the file, save and close the text window and the merge will be done.

Depending on how you installed Git, you may find youself in a command line text editor like nano or vim. If this happens and you’ve never used a command line text editor, don’t panic! Nano is relatively straightforward to use. Simply type your message, and press “ctrl-o” to save, then “ctrl-x” to exit.

If you followed the directions for Lab 1 Setup properly, you should not be in vim. However, if you are nonetheless in vim, please see this helpful tutorial in youtube or this stack overflow post about what to do next.

And if you’re still stuck, post on Ed and someone will be able to help you.

Once you’ve successfully merged, you should see a proj0 directory appear with files that match the skeleton repository.

If you somehow end up with a message saying there was a merge conflict, consult the git weird technical failures guide.

If you get some sort of error, STOP and either figure it out by carefully reading the git guide or seek help at OH or with Ed. You’ll potentially save yourself a lot of trouble vs. guess-and-check with git commands. If you find posts on Google that suggest using git force push, don’t. This can cause you some serious headaches with git.