Personally, to keep my documents like Inkscape files or LibreOffice documents separate from my code, I add a directory under my home directory called Development. There, I can do git clones to my heart's content
That way I can also keep other stuff in the same "workspace" directory and keep everything else clean
I have a Code, simulations, ECAD, and FreeCAD folder in the workspace folder where projects or 1-offs are stored and when I want to bring them to git, I copy them over, play around in the project folders again, then copy changes over when I am ready to commit.
I could better use branching and checking out in git, but large mechanical assemblies work badly on git.
Like others, I have a folder in my home directory called "Code." Most operating systems encourage you to organize digital files by category (documents, photos, music, videos). Anything that doesn't fit into those categories gets its own new directory. This is especially important for me, as all my folders except Code are synced to NextCloud.
Thinking of the projects I work on, I don't understand the value in categorizing by language, rather than theme (~/Development/Web/, ~/Development/Games/) or just the project folders right there.
Yeah, everyone has to find their own way of organising, I guess. For me, there are too many different little projects that it would get messy throwing them all in one folder. And they’re so varied that I couldn’t think of one single “theme” or topic for most of them. Nothing I would remember a week later anyways.
They are the project's subfolders (outside of the Git repo):
code contains the source code; version-controlled with Git.
wiki contains documentation and also version-controlled.
designs contains GIMP, Inkscape or Krita save files.
This structure works for me since software projects involve more things than just the code, and you can add more subfolders according to your liking such as notes, pkgbuild (for Arch Linux), or releases.
For a project called "Potato Peeler", I'll put it into a structure like this:
~/Projects/Tools/Potato-Peeler/potato-peeler/
Tools/ is just a rough category. Other categories are, for example, Games/ and Music/, because I also do gamedev and composing occasionally.
Then the capitalized Potato-Peeler/ folder, that's for me to drop in all kinds of project-related files, which I don't want to check into the repo.
And the lower-case potato-peeler/ folder is the repo then. Seeing other people's structures, maybe I'll rename that folder to repo/, and if I have multiple relevant repos for the Project, then make it repo-something.
I also have a folder like ~/Projects/Tools/zzz/ where I'll move dormant projects. The "zzz" sorts nicely to the bottom of the list.
The last part grouping project by companies has worked great for me, especially with freelance and outsource work. Sorting personal projects into types and stages feels like a mistake, as every time I have to navigate it, I can't help but think of limitations of hierarchical file systems, as some of them are multiple types simultaneously, and also moving projects between stages feels dumb.
I use ~/workspace . I think I got this from when I first started using Java years ago. Eclipse created new projects in this directory by default maybe?
Don't worry, the basics are really easy to git get down, you can read any beginner guide to start trying it out, for example this one on baeldung seems pretty alright by a quick skim, or, if you prefer a more playful approach, definitely check out ohmygit.
If you want to try a git hoster as well, make a GitHub profile if you want to go where most everyone is, so you can also easily contribute to others' projects, otherwise, if you care about staying on a free platform, make an account on Codeberg, fewer people, but all great like-minded free software supporters
Thanks. I do have a codeberg, a Gitlab and a github account (all I have here are my blacklist and white lists). If my kids allow me, I'll start swimming on this waters this weekend. I've only seen how you guys basically hold repose of pretty much anything and automate workflows and configurations so easily, it's amazing.
My best recommendation is a good git GUI. I really like Gitkraken (proprietary & freemium unfortunately, but a pretty generous free plan). I'm now more advanced than many of my coworkers because it helped me form an intuitive understanding of git.
Any naming convention is fine as long as it's meaningful to you. But it's a good idea to keep your own repos separate from the random ones you clone from the internet.
On my work laptop I have separate subdirs for each project and basically try to mirror the Gitlab group/project structure because some fucktards like to split every project into 20 repos.
I have always used it. I liked how it was easy to find in the home directory amongst other folders. Then under that I have a folder for every organization, including myself, and repositories live in those folders.
Same! I also have a separate directory for college assignments and stuff. Gonna set up separate gitconfigs for both soon, so there is a smaller chance of mixing up my credentials