I had presented an introduction to Magit, “Emacs + Magit = Git Magic”, at the Pune Emacs Users’ group meetup on Friday, February 22, 2013. Magit is an Emacs mode that interfaces with Git. Magit doesn’t provide all the interfaces of Git, but the frequently used commands. The user manual was used as a reference. Magit is available in Fedora. You can install it using:

$ sudo yum install emacs-magit

The talk was centered around the notion of writing a poem on Emacs in Emacs, and using magit to revision it. I started an Emacs session, created a directory with Dired mode, and used magit (M-x magit-status) to initialize a git repo. After adding a stanza in the poem, I used the magit commands to stage (s) and commit the same (c, C-c C-c) from the magit-buffer. Another stanza and a README file were then added, and the different untracked, and tracked section visibility options (TAB, S-TAB, {1-4}, M-{1-4}) were illustrated. After adding the third stanza, and committing the same, the short (l l) and long (l L) history formatted outputs were shown. The return (RET) key on a commit in the magit-log history buffer opens a new magit-commit buffer, displaying the changes made in the commit. The sha1 can be copied using the (C-w) shortcut.

The reflogs are visible with the (l h) option from the magit-buffer. The (d) command was used to show the difference between the master and a revision, and (D) for the diff between any two revisions. Annotated tags (t a) and lightweight tags (t t) can be created in magit. Resetting the working tree and discarding the current changes is possible with (X). Stashing (z z) the present changes, applying a stash (a), and killing the stash (k) were demonstrated. An org branch was then created (b n) to write a stanza on org-mode, and then merged (m m) with the master branch. An example of rebasing (R) was also illustrated. The magit-buffer can be refreshed (g) to check the current status of the git repo. Anytime, the magit buffers can be closed with the (q) command. A git command can be invoked directly using (:), and the corresponding output can be viewed with ($), which is shown in a magit-process buffer.

A summary of the various shortcuts are available in the presentation. The poem that I wrote on Emacs, and used in the talk:

Emacs is, an operating system
Which unlike many others, is truly, a gem
Its goodies can be installed, using RPM
Or you can use ELPA, which has already packaged them

You can customize it, to your needs
You can also check EmacsWiki, for more leads
Your changes work, as long as reload succeeds
And helps you with, your daily deeds

People say, it lacks a decent editor
But after using its features, they might want to differ
Using Magit’s shortcuts, you might infer
That it is something, you definitely prefer

Plan your life, with org-mode
You don’t necessarily need, to write code
TODO lists and agenda views, can easily be showed
Reading the documentation, can help you come aboard

Emacs is, a double-edged sword
Its powerful features, can never be ignored
Customization is possible, because of Free Software code
And this is, my simple ode.