Using TortoiseGit with FHIR

For Windows users, TortoiseGit provides a Windows Shell Interface for git. This topic provides documentation for getting started committing to the FHIR spec with the TortoiseGit client.

First, download and install the latest TortoiseGit: https://tortoisegit.org/download/

Create a Local Clone

Once you have the TortoiseGit client installed, you'll need to clone the FHIR repository locally. A clone is a local copy of the repository that you can use. Git is a distributed source control system, which means that each copy of the repository can manage it's own set of changes.

NOTE: For SVN users that already have a local checkout, do not clone into that directory. Instead, create a new directory for the Git clone.

To clone the repository, first, copy the repository URL from the main page of the repository:

Next, decide where you want the repository locally, right-click on the folder you've chosen and select "Git Clone..." to display the Clone dialog:

Note that this will create a sub-folder with the same name as the repository (fhir in this case), so if you've already created a folder called FHIR and that's where you're cloning, you'll end up with two FHIRs in your path. For example, to clone the repository above, I right-clicked on the "C:\Users\Bryn\Documents\Src\HL7" folder, and the repository will be cloned into a new sub-directory: "C:\Users\Bryn\Documents\Src\HL7\fhir".

Accept all the default options here and just click okay, and the TortoiseGit client will create the local clone.

Making and Committing Changes on a Feature Branch

"Getting Latest"

Before starting changes, make sure you have the latest changes to the repository. Right click on the root repository folder and select "TortoiseGit|Pull...":

This will display the pull dialog:

Accept the default options and click okay. This will display a progress dialog detailing the synchronization process. If you already have the latest, you'll see a message indicating you're up to date:

Creating a feature branch

Once you have an up-to-date local copy, making changes to the spec involves:

1. Creating a local "branch"
2. Committing the changes to your local repository
3. Pushing your changes to Github

Creating a local branch

Committing your changes

Pushing your commits to Github