My IRC friends have been after me to use github for what seems like forever. I finally got around to building my very first github repository for an upcoming Ars article and I thought I'd share the experience with any readers who have thought about going git (or gitting going) but have hesitated. Here's a really simple how-to to get you up and going with your first repository.

Create your project. For my first, simple project, I went ahead and created a new directory on my computer called helloworld and added a README plus, as you're already expecting, a 5 line Hello World C project.

Install git. As I work primarily on a Mac, I got my copy of git from git-osx-installer on Google Code. Many newer Linux distributions come with git already pre-installed. Type git at the command line to check.

Create a new github account. It's extremely easy to do so. Pop over to github, enter a new user name and your email.

Upload your SSH public key. If you have not yet done so, add your SSH public key to your account. Go to your account page, click add another public key, enter a title and your key. If you have not yet generated one (check in ~/.ssh/ for a id_rsa.pub file), you'll find instructions for doing so at the github site.

Create a new repository. The "create a new repository" link (actual github link) appears at the top right of your home page.

Enter a project name, optional description and optional homepage URL, and then click Create Repository.

Github moves you to the next stage of repository creation, offering a complete cheat-sheet on the next steps:

Upload your new repository materials. Return to the command line and basically follow the cheat-sheet steps given to you by github.

When you're done uploading, return to your web browser and click Continue, which is found after scrolling down to When You Are Done.

Review your repository. Your repository should be ready to use. Mine can be found at ars/hello-world. Github works like any other project hosting site. You can download, upload, branch, and wiki to your hearts content.