To contribute/use code from repositories on the NML GitHub organization, the easiest authentication strategy for use with git is to create an SSH key and associate it to your GitHub account. You will need to download git to do any of this; the necessary keygen (openSSH) tools will subsequently be available in git bash that comes with the git download.
In Windows (versions <11) you should be able to start a git bash terminal in your repository folder (or where you want to clone the repo) by right-clicking and selecting Git Bash Here from the context menu. In Windows 11, you can do the same thing but have to click the More Options... context menu at the bottom and then you will see the Git Bash Here option.
Platform-specific instructions for generating SSH keys and starting the SSH-agent that will “remember” your credentials in subsequent git bash sessions are provided by GitHub here. Follow all the steps in that guide first. It is recommended to add a passphrase to the generated SSH key!
Next, you need to add the key to your GitHub account. Step-by-step instructions that are platform-specific are provided by GitHub here. Follow all the steps in that guide to associate the public key to your GitHub account.
Once you have completed these steps, you should be able to use git commands with this and other Neuro-Mechatronics-Interfaces organization repositories that you have access to via the Weberlab team.
With git installed and your ssh credentials ready, you should now be able to clone this repository. Navigate to where you want this repository to go (as a folder) right-click and click Git Bash Here then enter:
git clone --recurse-submodules [email protected]:Neuro-Mechatronics-Interfaces/NHP_Center_Out.git
If you set up a passphrase in the SSH step, then you should be prompted for that passphrase before it will clone. You will now see a folder called NHP_Center_Out inside the folder where you opened the git bash terminal. The --recurse-submodules option just adds in submodules that Max created so that if he updates code related to this project while working on a different project, he doesn’t forget to update it here (or, can create branches to avoid breaking things here if there are conflicts in another version for a different project).
To avoid overwriting code that others are working on, please create a side branch. Max already made some example side branch but basically the format is dev/<initials> (e.g. Jonathan commits on dev/JS). To create and use a side branch, in git bash use the following command (replacing MM with your initials):
git checkout -b dev/MM
Now, when you git commit and git push to the remote repository, you will avoid overwriting changes on main. This is useful for collaborative work to avoid destroying each others analysis pipelines for example. If you have a really cool change that you think everybody should have, use the tools on the web interface to submit a pull request from your side branch (dev/<initials>) into main and assign @m053m716 as a reviewer. Maybe also send Max an email–once he sees the pull request and approves it will be merged into main and then anyone using main can see what you’ve added.
By convention, it is good practice before you start coding to use git fetch to see if there have been recent changes on main. If you notice changes, you will want to rebase onto main so that your side branch stems from the current version of main. If you get too far behind main, then you may be working with deprecated code so keep that in mind if you plan on using the code here for development. Also, if you are planning on actively contributing/developing code in this repo please just let Max know so he isn’t constantly squashing/forcing pushes to main (which is basically just done to keep the commit structure tidy). Thanks!