Installing from Git clones for study #

This page is for learners on the developer path, and for anyone who wants to read the code they run. It follows Develop with Git, which the project recommends "for building a website", and explains why a clone is also the best way to study.

Contents #

1. Why clones help you learn
2. What you need
3. The steps
4. Check that it worked
5. First things to explore

Why clones help you learn #

From the comparison in Develop with Git:

A release archive gives you the files and nothing else. A clone gives you the history, which is a record of how experienced developers solved real problems. Reading it is studying.

What you need #

• Git 2.28 or later (git --version);
• Composer 2 (composer --version) and PHP as listed in the requirements;
• a GitHub account only when you want to send changes back. Installing needs none.

Source: Develop with Git.

The steps #

composer config --global 'preferred-install.se7enxweb/*' source
git clone https://github.com/se7enxweb/exponential.git exponential
cd exponential
git switch -c my-site
composer install
php bin/php/console exp:install --apply --random-password --url=http://localhost:8087
php bin/php/console exp:velocity start --engine=php

What each line does, as Develop with Git explains:

1. The Composer setting installs every se7enxweb/* package as a Git clone, and the libraries as archives. Keep the quotes, so your shell does not expand the *.
2. git clone fetches the kernel with its whole history; the page measured more than 27,000 commits and about 370 MB, two to three minutes on a normal connection.
3. git switch -c my-site starts your own branch for your changes, on top of main, the current development line.
4. composer install clones every extension the kernel requires into extension/<name>, each with its history.
5. The last two lines install and serve the study site, as in Installing a study site in one command.

To study a published release instead of the development line, name its tag: git switch -c my-site v6.0.14. Read Versions, tags and branches first, because older tags need a newer PHP for their test tools.

Check that it worked #

composer status -v
ls -d extension/*/.git | wc -l
git -C extension/eztags log --oneline -3
git -C extension/eztags status

composer status -v should say No local changes; the second line counts the extensions that are clones. In an extension, "HEAD detached" is normal: Composer checks out the exact release tag that composer.json asks for. Start a branch before you change anything there (Develop with Git).

git status in the root lists the extensions as untracked folders; they are separate repositories, and that is expected.

First things to explore #

Note in your study journal one commit you understood and why it was made.

Related pages #

• Using Git as a student
• Git quick reference for learners
• Update with Git
• Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.