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I'm basically totally new to Git and GitHub. I want to make a small change to a certain GitHub project. As I understand it, I'm supposed to fork the original project, then clone my fork to my computer, then publish my changes to my fork, and then perhaps submit a pull request to the original project.

I logged into GitHub, found the project I wanted to change, and clicked the fork button. This seemed to create a fork of it, associated with my username, but if I go to my profile, it shows me as having no repositories, and no forks. If I then start up GitHub for Windows on my computer, it sure seems to have logged me in successfully (shows my picture, for example), but when I click on "Add Repository" and then "Clone", it says "No repositories". And I don't see a way to add my fork to GitHub for Windows.

I have read some tutorials, but they led me to believe that forking the original project would create a repository for me; I guess I don't really know the terminology, but it seems like it created... something other than a repository, and I'm confused as to how to proceed.

The original project that I want to fork is here:

https://gist.github.com/jdelamater99/92ef1373a82d17556fd2

Clicking the "Fork" button on that page created this, associated with my user account:

https://gist.github.com/rwv37/3b079e6ec8dd34e6f2c7

But my user profile shows no repositories, no forks, etc. Just to be explicit, it shows none on any of the tabs, including those that you can't see (e.g. "Private"):

https://github.com/rwv37?tab=repositories

I don't know what I'm doing here. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Bob Vesterman
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1 Answers1

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That fork would show up in the gist section:

https://gist.github.com/rwv37

gist

While gists are repos, there are managed separately from the full-fledged Git repositories associated with your account.

See also "GitHub: Deciding When to Use a Gist vs. a Regular Repository".

To clone the gist, use its https url:

git clone https://gist.github.com/3b079e6ec8dd34e6f2c7.git

VonC
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  • Thanks, it does show up there, but I'm still not sure how to proceed (sorry). When I go into GitHub for Windows, I don't see it, and I don't see how to add it. – Bob Vesterman Feb 15 '15 at 21:14
  • @BobVesterman you can clone it from the command line (or G4W: GitHub For Windows), I have edited the answer. – VonC Feb 15 '15 at 21:16
  • While Gists are repositories, they are not managed like Github projects. You'll have to clone it manually. – Schwern Feb 15 '15 at 21:16
  • Thanks, that worked. But am I understanding correctly that I can't submit a pull request to the original project (because it is a "gist")? – Bob Vesterman Feb 15 '15 at 21:29
  • @BobVesterman no you cannot make a pull request indeed: http://stackoverflow.com/q/8758612/6309 – VonC Feb 15 '15 at 21:33