set up git for the first use (with rails)

After installing the packages git-core and gitosis:

configure

git config --global user.name "username"
git config --global user.email "user@mail.com"
git config --global core.editor "emacs -w"

run

git init

customize the .gitignore file
examples here

add your project to git

git add . ## from your project folder

to see which files are in the staging area:

git status

to tell Git you want to keep the changes

git commit -m "initial commit"

list of commit messages:

git log

undo changes

git checkout -f ## -f flag to force overwriting the current changes