How to use tags for versioning in git gui

Question

I'm a complete and utter noob, so be gentle!

I'm using git gui, and never touching the command line interface. I'm a noob, and some of the people i'm working with are even noob-ey-er...

Current state: - I have a repository on git hub which contains a handful of scripts (henceforth 'code')
- I'm using git gui (mysysgit)
- I have made commits and push's and have a vague understanding of CVS
- I don't believe we will need to branch

I feel that I should be able to use tags to create versions of the code. I also 'feel' like there should be an equivelant structure in the filesystem where the snapshots (or links to...) are stored.

eg:
.\EdsLittleThing\v1.0
.\EdsLittleThing\v1.1
.\EdsLittleThing\v1.2
etc

However, I can not work out how to create a tag within git gui. The only tag reference i can find seems to be tied to merging branches, and that doesn't help me.

I have scoured the web, and can not find a single reference on how to create and manage versions using Git Gui.

I want to be able to create a slightly more simple version of this:

Final note: Whilst I'm led to believe that my answer is found in 'tags', I dont really care if its really answered by using revisions / branches / whatever.

Answer 1

You want to use gitk, available by Repository->Visualize…

In the top pane, right click on the commit you want to tag at, and select create tag.

In the git model, you do not typically have tags checked out to disk under the same repository. You could have multiple repositories (all cloned from upstream) or the not suggested multiple working directories at different revisions with one revision, but most times simply using git's tool obviates the need to have multiple versions checked out at the same time.

What you are suggesting is nothing like the gitflow model, so I don't recommend using that as a reference. Read the ProGit book, http://progit.org for good advice and a few other workflows. I use one which is none of the above.

Typically you tag at major milestones. I tag when a piece of code becomes customer visible, or when we have code ready to move into formal QA practices. There is typically no need to tag as reminders of when things happened. That is what commit messages are for.

Answer 2

Thanks for the help fellas.

I managed to add tags using the method described above

You want to use gitk, available by Repository->Visualize…

In the top pane, right click on the commit you want to tag at, and select create tag.

I then had the problem that my tags were not being included in the push. Therefore, any tags I added were only stored locally, and useless for collaboration.

The last step in the process is to take one more step when you push...

When you click push, a window pops up, the bottom check box says "include tags in push". Tick this box, and you should be away laughing!

Answer 3

I started gitk from Git Gui, highlighted a commit (initial commit in the example below) by left clicking on it, and then right clicked on the selected commit to produce the pop-down menu shown, where the Create tag option is shown, highlighted.

A pop-up then appeared as shown further below.

Answer 4

If you want to add tag with Tortoise GIT:

1. show log
2. right click on commit and create tag at this version
3. push with checked include tags

If you want to remove tag via Tortoise GIT:

1. show log
2. right click on commit and delete refs/tags/x.y.z
3. push with empty local branch field and enter your tag name into the remote branch field

Answer 5

I was more interested in deleting a tag through the interface. I could not find how to do that using Git GUI, so I had to run this command on the command-line.

git tag -d [nameoftag]