[HELP] GitHub Clone Question

I work on the Savage Worlds Tabbed sheet, and that's about the only game I play...I have created the occasional other character sheet, but the vastness of the roll20 repo doesn't interest me.  However, for me to work on my sheet, I need to fork the entire character sheet repo and then clone it to my computer.  That's a HUUUUGE waste of hard drive space. Is there a way for the clone to only include folders I'm actually working in/on?

The roll20 repository is under 1GB, which used to be a lot, but with most hard drives these days, that's fairly negligible. That said, if you want to avoid downloading it all, I am pretty sure you can work on just the files you want on your own computer, then upload them to your fork of the repository on the web, and then commit from there. You dont get to use the github desktop tool, so have to do things more manually which is a bit clunky, but you can definitely do it that way.

It is how I work on my sheet. Do the files individually on my computer, upload to my fork then commit it. I don't use the github tool. I also prior to any uploads usually delete my fork and create a new one as I have not figured out yet to make my fork update itself to the latest.

Pat S. said: It is how I work on my sheet. Do the files individually on my computer, upload to my fork then commit it. I don't use the github tool. I also prior to any uploads usually delete my fork and create a new one as I have not figured out yet to make my fork update itself to the latest. Command lines in your fork: git fetch Roll20 git merge Roll20/master and then push to your repo. your fork will be up to date.

I think there's some missing info there, Natha. Assuming people have plain text files on their pc, plan to upload them manually to their github website, what would they enter those command lines into?

Sorry, you're right GG. If you've forked the official Roll20 sheet repo, and downloaded it on your PC with the github application (or direct git commands) some time ago, and want to put your own modifcations in it on a specific sheet, and then make pull request, you'll have to update your fork first, to catch up with the current state of the official repo, to push only what's different (=your modifications). So before putting your modified files locally in your fork, update it with the commands above, push to your repo on github (so your fork is up to date locally and on github) and then put your modified files and make a PR. This avoids to have to delete and refork, and/or to push unwanted modifcations from other/older sheets (and have merge conflicts like I see sometimes happening). There's perhaps a better way, but that's I've been using for years.

I always create a new branch from Roll20/master directly, not from my own master. That makes more sense anyway if I'm making changes for more than one sheet at the same time, and everything ends up neatly in its own branch. 

G G said: The roll20 repository is under 1GB, which used to be a lot, but with most hard drives these days, that's fairly negligible. It's negligible, but it's also a bunch of clutter on my HDD. :) Anyway, thanks everyone, pretty much what I figured...

Jakob said: I always create a new branch from Roll20/master directly, not from my own master. That makes more sense anyway if I'm making changes for more than one sheet at the same time, and everything end up nearly in its own branch.  How do you do that?

G G said: Jakob said: I always create a new branch from Roll20/master directly, not from my own master. That makes more sense anyway if I'm making changes for more than one sheet at the same time, and everything ends up neatly in its own branch.  How do you do that? Desktop client or command line?

Desktop client preferably, but I'm willing to learn either.

Okay, switch your branch to Roll20/master: It will tell you that you have to copy the branch to your fork to make changes, so pick a name and click "Copy Branch". And you're done, you have a new branch which tracks the remote branch Roll20/master, and you can make commits / pull requests from there.

Thanks, I'll try that out this evening. Once you have a couple of branches, how do you switch between them, and make sure any changes you are making go to the branch you want?

You can switch branches via the menu in my first screenshot. And if you're making changes to files, just switch to the correct branch before making those changes. If you switch branches, Git will also update all files in your local folders — so if you've changed file1 in branch A and then switch to branch B where you have never changed file1, it will appear untouched (so in this case, the same as the Roll20/master version at the time you created the branch).

That sounds perfect. Thanks.

Jakob said: Okay, switch your branch to Roll20/master: (...)  As I'm far (far) from the github expert, so maybe a stupid question: if every sheet authors create their own branch, will they be visible for everyone and won't it be "bloated" when listing the branches from the Github desktop app?

Not an expert either, but I think branches you create on your own fork should only be visible to you.

Jakob said: Not an expert either, but I think branches you create on your own fork should only be visible to you. If you push you work to GitHub, everyone can see all your branches and work, but they have to go to your fork to see it. I think their buisness model was that people could pay if users want some of their stuff private. Natha said: As I'm far (far) from the github expert, so maybe a stupid question: if every sheet authors create their own branch, will they be visible for everyone and won't it be "bloated" when listing the branches from the Github desktop app? Nope, branches are visible only in the fork they are created in. That's one of the main reason why forking exists.

Ok, thanks Andreas and Jakob. I'll try branching from my fork instead of updating to be on par with the main repo.

Thanks for the clarification Andreas, what you said there was what I actually  meant to say :).

Jakob said: Thanks for the clarification Andreas, what you said there was what I actually  meant to say :). It feels nice that all the things I've learned from you and others, regarding making char sheets and GitHub, is on the level where I can help others.(Even if the clarifying comment wasn't that great)

Nonetheless, for people like me with small/slow internet connections, I do recommand fetch/merge command lines to get a fresh, up to date fork of the main repo, if needed. Far less to download than reforking.

Jakob said: Okay, switch your branch to Roll20/master: I've tried to do this, but i dont have the option of picking roll20/master. I also added that pendragon-sheet branch before I realised I was still in my own folk and not the roll20 one, and dont see any way to delete it.