GitHub Repository as Source Code Repository

While I was doing programming with XCode last night, one thing came to my mind: I need a repository to keep track of my source codes. It is not only a good way to save and track my changes, but it also provides a remote repository on Cloud to safely keep my project source codes. So I started to investigate options.

I have done some projects by using Google Code. I use it as a host for my public shared projects. I have not really used it as my source code repository. At work, I also use Subversion(SVN) as a alternative repository. Here is a list of SVN listing. For personal use, I heard many developers recommending GitHub as an alternative. So I gave it a try.

I created an account at GitHub. The basic account is free with .3GB space and no private repository. It provides update to fee-based private repositories. The following is what I have done.

First I need to install git. There is Mac version at Google. The installation is straightforward by running the installation pkg. A reboot is required to access to git in Terminal. I think the installation may add git to the terminal PATH.

The second step is to generate a SSH key. GitHub provides detail step-by-step information about this on Mac. I think this key is used to identify my Mac to a remote SVN repository.

The third step is to add the key to my GitHub account. The key is in my ~/.ssh folder. The generated SSH key is rsa type and the public key is in the file of id_rsa.pub. After adding my public key to my GitHub account, there is one file is created in my ~/.ssh folder as know_hosts.

That's all I have done so far. I have not reached the point to save my source codes in XCode to a repository yet.