In this chapterFind a plain-language explanation of a Git term.
Terms you’ll see in GitTrail and in Git, in plain words.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Repository (repo) | A project folder whose history Git tracks. |
| Commit | A saved snapshot of your changes, with a message, an author and a date. |
| Commit message | A short description of what a commit changes. The first line is the summary. |
| Author | The name and email recorded in a commit. |
| SHA / commit id | The unique code that identifies a commit, like a1b2c3d. |
| Working tree | The files on your disk right now, including unsaved (uncommitted) changes. |
| Staging area (index) | A waiting room for changes you want in your next commit. You “stage” changes, then commit them. |
| Hunk | One block of changed lines in a file. You can stage hunk by hunk, or line by line. |
| Diff | The difference between two versions: lines added (green) and removed (red). |
| Branch | A named line of work. Creating a branch is cheap and safe. |
| main / master | The usual name of the main branch. |
| HEAD | “Where you are now”: the commit (usually the branch) you have checked out. |
| Checkout / switch | Move to another branch or commit. |
| Merge | Combine another branch’s work into the current branch, often with a “merge commit”. |
| Fast-forward | A merge where nothing needs combining: the branch just moves ahead. |
| Rebase | Replay your commits on top of another branch, giving a straight history. |
| Squash | Combine several commits into one. |
| Cherry-pick | Copy one commit onto another branch. |
| Revert | Make a new commit that undoes an older one (safe for shared history). |
| Reset | Move a branch back to an earlier commit (soft, mixed, hard or keep). |
| Conflict | When two branches changed the same lines differently, and Git needs you to choose. |
| Remote | A copy of the repo on a server, usually called origin. |
| origin / upstream | origin is your main remote; upstream is often the original project you forked from. |
| Clone | Copy a repo from a remote to your computer. |
| Fetch | Download new commits from the remote without changing your files. |
| Pull | Fetch, then bring the new commits into your branch. |
| Push | Upload your commits to the remote. |
| Tracking branch | The remote branch your local branch follows (for “ahead/behind” counts). |
| Ahead / behind | How many commits you have that the remote doesn’t (to push), and the reverse (to pull). |
| Force push | Overwrite the remote branch. GitTrail uses the safe kind that refuses if someone else pushed. |
| Fork | Your own copy of someone else’s repo on the host. |
| Pull request (PR) / merge request (MR) | A request to merge a branch, with review and discussion, on GitHub/GitLab/… |
| Stash | A shelf where you can put changes aside and bring them back later. |
| Tag | A fixed name for a commit, often a version like v1.2.0. |
| Release | A tag published on the host with notes and downloadable files. |
| Worktree | A second folder checked out from the same repo, so you can work on two branches at once. |
| Submodule | A repo inside another repo. |
| Git LFS | “Large File Storage”: keeps big files (images, videos) outside the normal history. |
| Hooks | Scripts Git runs at certain moments, like before a commit or a push. |
| Reflog | Git’s diary of where HEAD and branches have been; it lets you recover “lost” commits. |
| Bisect | A search through history to find the commit that broke something. |
| Blame | Shows who last changed each line of a file, and in which commit. |
| SSH key | A secret key file that proves who you are to the host, without a password. |
| HTTPS token | A password-like code for HTTPS remotes. |
| Signing | Adding a cryptographic signature to commits so hosts can show them as “Verified”. |
GitTrail words
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Account (also “profile”) | One identity in GitTrail: name, email, host, username, SSH key, signing key, optional token. |
| Folder rule | “Every repo under this folder uses this account.” |
| Remote rule | “Every repo from this address (for example github.com/acme) uses this account.” |
| Default account | The account used when nothing more specific applies. |
| Workspace | The screen for one repo: the graph, Changes, pull requests and more. |
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