Getting a Git Repository
So now that we're all set up, we need a Git repository. We can do this one of two ways - we can clone one that already exists, or we can initialize one either from existing files that aren't in source control yet, or from an empty directory.
Cloning a Repository
In order to get a copy of a project, you will need to know the project's Git URL - the location of the repository. Git can operate over many different protocols, so it may begin with ssh://, http(s)://, git://, or just a username (in which case git will assume ssh). Some repositories may be accessed over more than one protocol. For example, the source code to Git itself can be cloned either over the git:// protocol:
git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/git/git.git
or over http:
git clone http://www.kernel.org/pub/scm/git/git.git
The git:// protocol is faster and more efficient, but sometimes it is necessary to use http when behind corporate firewalls or what have you. In either case you should then have a new directory named 'git' that contains all the Git source code and history - it is basically a complete copy of what was on the server.
By default, Git will name the new directory it has checked out your cloned code into after whatever comes directly before the '.git' in the path of the cloned project. (ie. git clone http://git.kernel.org/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git will result in a new directory named 'linux-2.6')
Initializing a New Repository
Assume you have a tarball named project.tar.gz with your initial work. You can place it under git revision control as follows.
$ tar xzf project.tar.gz
$ cd project
$ git init
Git will reply
Initialized empty Git repository in .git/
You've now initialized the working directory--you may notice a new directory created, named ".git".
