📅 Workshop: Introduction to Git & GitLab
Date: 27 March 2026 Location: Building 10.05, 3rd floor — Room 572 Organisers: Maxime Thumin & Thibault Cimic Estimated duration: 3h (1h30 theory + 1h30 hands-on)
🧩 Programme
Part 1 — Theory (1h30)
A progressive introduction, from local to cloud, from personal to collaborative.
| # | Topic | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | What is Git? Why version control? | 20 min |
| 2 | Git locally: commits, branches, when to commit | 25 min |
| 3 | GitHub & GitLab: Git in the cloud | 20 min |
| 4 | Collaboration: forks, merge requests | 25 min |
Part 2 — Hands-on (1h30)
We start from the cloud and work our way down to your machine. The goal is to contribute to this very repository.
No assumptions on programming language — the project uses text files (Markdown). Think of the text as your code, and the automated checks as your tests.
Exercise 1 — Set up your workspace
Fork the repo (get it onto your own GitLab): 1. Go to https://gitlab.com/thibaultcimic/git_tutorial 2. Click Fork → select your GitLab namespace
Clone your fork (get it onto your machine):
git clone git@gitlab.com:yourusername/git_tutorial.git
cd git_tutorial
Install the pre-merge-commit hook (one-time setup):
cp hooks/pre-merge-commit .git/hooks/pre-merge-commit && chmod +x .git/hooks/pre-merge-commit
Create your branches (following the branch hierarchy):
git branch dev-yourname main
git checkout dev-yourname
git checkout -b dev-yourname-participant
Exercise 2 — Write your participant file
cp participants/TEMPLATE.md participants/firstname-lastname.md
Open the file, fill in all the fields and sections.
git add participants/firstname-lastname.md
git commit -m "Add participant file for Firstname Lastname"
git log --oneline
Exercise 3 — Merge your way up to main
git checkout dev-yourname
git merge dev-yourname-participant
git checkout main
git merge dev-yourname
A local hook will run automatically and check your file for spelling mistakes. If something is wrong, the merge is blocked — fix it, commit, and retry.
Exercise 4 — Push and open a Merge Request
git push origin dev-yourname
git push origin main
Go to your fork on GitLab, open a Merge Request (called a Pull Request on GitHub) targeting the original repo's main branch. A CI job will run automatically and check the structure of your participant file. If it fails, fix and push again.
❓ FAQ
I made a mistake in my file, can I fix it?
Yes! Edit your file, then git add + git commit, redo the merges, and push. Your MR will update automatically.
I can't find the Fork button... Make sure you're logged in on GitLab. The button is in the top right corner of the repository page.
The CI is red on my MR — is that bad? Don't panic! Read the error message. It's likely a small issue with your file structure. Fix it, commit, push — the CI re-runs automatically.
The merge onto main was blocked — what do I do?
Run git merge --abort to cancel, go back to your feature branch, fix the spelling mistake, commit, and redo the merges.