The DokuWiki sources are managed through the Git version control system. Git is a free and open source, distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency.

Git is NOT offered as optional version control backend for DokuWiki itself.

Instead of repeating things that were said elsewhere I just want to give some pointers:

• Download Git
• Git Community
• Git User Manual
• Working with branches: Commits and Pull Requests (by jQuery Community)

There are also some good books about Git:

• Scott Chacon - Pro Git (ISBN 978-1-43021-833-3) – You can read it online for free (CC licensed). Translations are also available (e.g. German).
• Ben Lynn - Git Magic (ISBN 978-1-45152-334-8) – You can read it online for free (GPL licensed). Translations are also available (e.g. Spanish).
• Travis Swicegood - Pragmatic Version Control Using Git (ISBN 978-1-93435-615-9)
• Jon Loeliger - Version Control with Git (ISBN 978-0-59652-012-0)

Before you start using Git, you should configure it with your name and email address:

git config --global user.name "Your Name Comes Here"
git config --global user.email you@yourdomain.example.com

And optionally setup colors and few helpful aliases:

git config --global color.ui auto
git config --global alias.st status
git config --global alias.ci commit
git config --global alias.up pull --rebase

To fetch the current development version of DokuWiki use the following command (This creates the directory dokuwiki for you):

git clone git://github.com/dokuwiki/dokuwiki.git

To update an existing checkout use this command from within the DokuWiki directory:

git pull

When you create a new source file, use this command to add it to the Git repository:

git add somenewfile

When you changed some already tracked files, you need to tell Git about it:

git add --patch

The --patch will interactively ask you what parts you want to check in (very much like darcs behaved)

When you're finished with your changes use:

git commit

This will scan your local Git repository to find the changes that have occurred and will locally “commit” your changes so that they are not overwritten by a pull. Unlike CVS it doesn't actually send the files anywhere at this point though. It's more like a “local tag” for your own copy of the code.

To get your changes included in the official tree, create a patchfile:

git format-patch origin/master

This creates one (or more) numbered patch files that can be mailed manually to the mailinglist. However, this method results in extra manual work for the maintainers of DokuWiki, and makes it difficult to provide feedback on your contribution. So please continue to the section below, and try offering your changes as pull requests.

• Always pull before starting to work on new patches, to make sure you don't create conflicts.
• Make sure your editor does not change line endings (from Unix LF to DOS CRLF), this would result in a complete file replace, instead of a small patch because each line was changed.
• Make a patch for a single feature. When you worked on two different features (eg, a language fix and a function update), add and commit two patches, with one for each feature. Using the –patch option for add makes that easy for you by asking what to include in the patch.
• We really prefer pull requests, above patches sent to the mailinglist. See below for more guiding for a pull request. You should explain what patches do and why.
• A web interface to the Git repository is available at https://github.com/dokuwiki/dokuwiki

(Making pull requests is the preferred manner of contributing)

Above explanation mixes your changes with the incoming changes of DokuWiki in the same 'branch', and you cannot publish them directly to Github because you have (probably) not direct commit access to this repository. Therefore, if your intention is to propose your change a fork of the repository at Github is needed, in which you can make branches for each issue you like to fix.

First you make at Github your own fork with the 'Fork' button topright on https://github.com/dokuwiki/dokuwiki

With the clone url, shown with the 'Code' button, you can fetch your fork on your machine. This create the folder 'dokuwiki':

git clone git@github.com:YourName/dokuwiki.git

Next you add the original DokuWiki repository as extra remote repository:

git remote add upstream git://github.com/dokuwiki/dokuwiki.git

Verification of this addition can done by showing all remotes (origin=your online fork, upstream=original online DokuWiki repo)

git remote -v

If you start making the modifications you like to propose, it is recommended to make first a separate branch in your fork. If your plan is to fix multiple issues (e.g. fix php warnings and add a new feature), please create a branch for each of them. A branch can be created with:

git checkout -b yourbranchname

In this branch you can make your changes. Storing changes in git, goes in two steps: 1) first add the files such that git knows which files are ready, 2) commit the added files.

# add an entire file to the coming commit
git add your/file.php
# or decide interactively which changes in a file to add to the coming commit
git add --patch

After done with adding, commit these changes with

git commit

Advice: try to commit small understandable pieces of code per commit, if the entire change is larger, do not all changes in one commit. This helps later other people that review your proposal .

If you wonder what the status is of your repository during the different steps, you can ask git more info:

# shows current status, and gives eventually some hints how to progress
git status
# show not commit changes
git diff

Switching between branches:

git checkout yourbranchname
# back to main branch
git checkout master

Sometimes you have changes, which are not yet ready for committing, but you like to switch for example between branches. You can temporary store the not committed changes.

# store temporary all not committed changes
git stash
# if you like to continue, you can reapply the changes
git stash apply

Of course there are regularly changes added to DokuWiki's repository. You can download the history with

git fetch upstream

And next merge them in your branch

# go to your branch (if you are not already there)
git checkout yourbranchname
# merge the changes from the 'master' branch of the 'upstream' repository 
# in the current branch.
git merge upstream/master

Alternatively, you can do the fetching and merging at once with one pull command:

git pull upstream master

If you are ready, and all your changes are committed, you can publish your branch to your fork on Github

git push origin yourbranchname

On Github, you see now a notice which let you initiate a Pull request to DokuWikis repository. DokuWiki's developers will review your proposal and eventually request some changes.

Changes can be made locally again in your branch, and committed as before. If done, you can publish them in the same manner as the first time. It will simply sent the extra commits to your fork, and automatically appear in the pull request as well.

git push origin yourbranchname

Background:

• committing changes to a pull request branch created from a fork
• syncing a fork
• pushing commits to a remote repository
• https://training.github.com/downloads/github-git-cheat-sheet/

Git isn't only for DokuWiki developers. It can be used to get the latest stable version and to update to the next stable version when it is released. To do so you need to clone the repository but checkout the stable branch:

git clone --branch stable https://github.com/dokuwiki/dokuwiki.git

Now you can pull all needed updates whenever a new release is made:

cd dokuwiki
git pull

You can checkout your plugin repository (or if contributing to others' plugin, your fork of the plugin) in the tree of the development version. By doing this, it integrates well the unit tests and global Dokuwiki project settings.

Go to the plugins (or template) folder

cd dokuwiki/lib/plugins
# or
cd dokuwiki/lib/tpl

Clone the plugin repository, this creates the folder 'dokuwiki-plugin-example'

git clone git@github.com:YourName/dokuwiki-plugin-example.git

Rename to the correct base name (if you hesitate, check plugin.info.txt or template.info.txt)

mv dokuwiki-plugin-example example

Eventually, you have to configure your IDE to recognize the repository e.g. in InteliJ IDEA.