Linux Kernel Architecture

Mauerer runapp02.tex V2 - 09/04/2008 6:09pm Page 1168

Appendix B: Working with the Source Code

Figure B-6: File history displayed QGit.

The following input is required to clone the repository:

wolfgang@meitner>git clone /home/wolfgang/git-repos/linux-2.6 /home/wolfgang/linux-work

After you are done making your changes to the files, you can add comments and group them into a

commit usinggit commit.Notethatgit guiprovides a graphical front end to create commits, which can

be used intuitively and does not require much explanation.

Exporting

Git features thegit archivecommand to export the status of the complete repository at a given time.

Tagsare important when a specific revision is exported from the repository. These tags are specially

marked points along the development time axis. In the Linux context, these points in time represent

the published versions of the kernel. For example, the tag for version2.6.24isv2.6.24. This symbolic

identifier can be used as an abbreviation for the usual combination of digits because it is much easier

to remember. The use of tags to identify releases is aLinus Torvalds convention for the Linux sources.

Tags can, of course, be used for many other purposes; for example, to mark the beginning or end of

far-reaching changes, or to identify interim versions.