This is the introduction document for new members. We highly recommend any new members to read this introduction to study the function of GitHub.

Check out the Full Guide to new member for all the guide.

Any Utilities need to download please check the Utilities for members bedore asking our members.

GitHub is a git-based code hosting platform that serves as our project version control system. We use Git to manage all our engineering files, including CAD drawings, source codes, and documentation.

• Repository (Repo): A collection of files with complete history
• Commit: A snapshot of changes saved to the repository
• Push: Uploading committed change to remote server (GitHub)
• Pull: Downloading committed change to local machine (Your PC)
• Branch: An alternate development path for a project
• Merge: Combining changes from one branch into another
• Pull Request: A request to merge changes, enabling code review

We recommended using the simplified software from GitHub to manage the repo. You still use your preferred git software/plugin to manage repo.

1. Download Git Desktop from the official website: https://desktop.github.com/
2. Run the installer and follow the setup wizard
3. Upon first launch, sign in with your GitHub account credentials

GitHub Desktop automatically configures Git, but you can verify settings:

# Test the configuration
git --version
git config --list

# You should able to see the following lines
user.name=<Your username>
user.email=<12345678>+<Your username>@users.noreply.github.com

A. Via GitHub Desktop:

1. File → New Repository
2. Enter remote URL or select from recent repositories
3. Choose local folder location

B. Via Terminal:

git clone https://github.com/Polyu-E-formula-Racing-Team/Intro-for-new-member.git
cd Intro-for-new-member

1. Make your changes in any editor (VS Code, Notepad++, etc.)
2. In Git Desktop, you'll see changed files in the Changes section
3. Add all files: Click the + icon next to file type dropdown
4. Enter a descriptive commit message (e.g., "Added new documentation")
5. Click Commit to main

After committing locally, you can push changes:

1. In Git Desktop: Right-click on the repository name and select Push origin
2. Or use terminal: git push

The pushed changes will appear in your GitHub web interface under Contributors → [Your Name]

If a conflict occurs during pull:

1. Git Desktop will mark conflicting files with yellow color
2. Open the file in your editor to resolve conflicts manually
3. Mark the conflict as resolved in Git Desktop once done
4. Commit your changes again

1. Pull latest code: Always sync before starting work
2. Create a feature branch: Don't modify main directly
3. Use descriptive commit messages: Explain what and why
4. Test your changes: Ensure no regressions are introduced

• Be concise but informative in commit messages
• Group related changes in single commits
• Reference issue/PR numbers when applicable
• Keep atomic commits (one change per commit)

• GitHub tries to provide abundant storage for all Git repositories, although there are hard limits for file and repository sizes.

• GitHub limits the size of files allowed in repositories. If you attempt to add or update a file that is larger than 50 MiB, you will receive a warning from Git.

  TIPs: If you add a file to a repository via a browser, the file can be no larger than 25 MiB.

GitHub blocks files larger than 100 MiB.

To track files beyond this limit, you must use Git Large File Storage (Git LFS).

In order to use Git LFS, you'll need to download and install a new program that's separate from Git.

1. Navigate to git-lfs.com and click Download. Alternatively, you can install Git LFS using a package manager:

   • To use Homebrew, run brew install git-lfs.
   • To use MacPorts, run port install git-lfs.

   If you install Git LFS with Homebrew or MacPorts, skip to step six.

2. On your computer, locate and unzip the downloaded file.

3. Open TerminalTerminalGit Bash.

4. Change the current working directory into the folder you downloaded and unzipped.

   cd ~/Downloads/git-lfs-X.X.X

   NOTE: The file path you use after cd depends on your operating system, Git LFS version you downloaded, and where you saved the Git LFS download.

5. To install the file, run this command:

   $ ./install.sh
   > Git LFS initialized.

   NOTE: You may have to use sudo ./install.sh to install the file.

6. Next, make required changes to your global Git config:

   $ git lfs install
   > Git LFS initialized.

7. If you don't see a message indicating that git lfs install was successful, please contact us through the GitHub Support portal. Be sure to include the name of your operating system.

1. Navigate to git-lfs.com and click Download.

   TIPs: For more information about alternative ways to install Git LFS for Windows, see this Getting started guide.

2. On your computer, locate the downloaded file.

3. Double click on the file called git-lfs-windows-1.X.X.exe, where 1.X.X is replaced with the Git LFS version you downloaded. When you open this file Windows will run a setup wizard to install Git LFS.

4. Open TerminalTerminalGit Bash. As the setup wizard may have modified your system PATH, opening a new session will ensure Git can locate Git LFS.

5. Verify that the installation was successful:

   $ git lfs install
   > Git LFS initialized.

6. If you don't see a message indicating that git lfs install was successful, please contact us through the GitHub Support portal. Be sure to include the name of your operating system.

1. Navigate to git-lfs.com and click Download.

   TIPs: For more information about alternative ways to install Git LFS for Linux, see this Getting started guide.

2. On your computer, locate and unzip the downloaded file.

3. Open TerminalTerminalGit Bash.

4. Change the current working directory into the folder you downloaded and unzipped.

   cd ~/Downloads/git-lfs-1.X.X

   NOTE: The file path you use after cd depends on your operating system, Git LFS version you downloaded, and where you saved the Git LFS download.

5. To install the file, run this command:

   $ ./install.sh
   > Git LFS initialized.

   NOTE: You may have to use sudo ./install.sh to install the file.

6. Next, make required changes to your global Git config:

   $ git lfs install
   > Git LFS initialized.

7. If you don't see a message indicating that git lfs install was successful, please contact us through the GitHub Support portal. Be sure to include the name of your operating system.

Once Git LFS is installed, you need to associate it with a large file in your repository.

If there are existing files in your repository that you'd like to use with GitHub, you need to first remove them from the repository and then add them to Git LFS locally. For more information, see Moving a file in your repository to Git Large File Storage.

If there are referenced Git LFS files that did not upload successfully, you will receive an error message. For more information, see Resolving Git Large File Storage upload failures.

1. Open TerminalTerminalGit Bash.

2. Change your current working directory to an existing repository you'd like to use with Git LFS.

3. To associate a file type in your repository with Git LFS, enter git lfs track followed by the name of the file extension you want to automatically upload to Git LFS.

   For example, to associate a .psd file, enter the following command:

   $ git lfs track "*.psd"
   > Tracking "*.psd"

   Every file type you want to associate with Git LFS will need to be added with git lfs track. This command amends your repository's .gitattributes file and associates large files with Git LFS.

   NOTE: We strongly suggest that you commit your local .gitattributes file into your repository.

   • Relying on a global .gitattributes file associated with Git LFS may cause conflicts when contributing to other Git projects.
   • Including the .gitattributes file in the repository allows people creating forks or fresh clones to more easily collaborate using Git LFS.
   • Including the .gitattributes file in the repository allows Git LFS objects to optionally be included in ZIP file and tarball archives.

4. Add a file to the repository matching the extension you've associated:

   git add path/to/file.psd

5. Commit the file and push it to GitHub:

   git commit -m "add file.psd"
   git push

   You should see some diagnostic information about your file upload:

   > Sending file.psd
   > 44.74 MB / 81.04 MB  55.21 % 14s
   > 64.74 MB / 81.04 MB  79.21 % 3s

• Collaboration with Git Large File Storage
• Managing Git LFS objects in archives of your repository