Open source madness – Using Git to version your Gimp sourced custom Twitter page

What does Gimp have to do with Twitter? If you haven't already, first of all see [[Open source madness - Customizing my Twitter page with Gimp]].

Now, isn't this overkill, you may ask, using Git to version graphic design work?

Well, not really. The whole idea of using Gimp is to have a kind of source file, which then generates your Twitter background. Then, say you want to go back to a previous version, if you are using any kind of version control system, you can go back in the time machine and generate from there. We'll use [[Git and Cogito on Ubuntu|Git]].

Getting started

Open up a terminal on your working directory. Perform the following commands:

Posted on: Last updated on: Written by:

What does Gimp have to do with Twitter? If you haven’t already, first of all see [[Open source madness – Customizing my Twitter page with Gimp]].

Now, isn’t this overkill, you may ask, using Git to version graphic design work?

Well, not really. The whole idea of using Gimp is to have a kind of source file, which then generates your Twitter background. Then, say you want to go back to a previous version, if you are using any kind of version control system, you can go back in the time machine and generate from there. We’ll use [[Git and Cogito on Ubuntu|Git]].

Getting started

Open up a terminal on your working directory. Perform the following commands:


$ git init
Initialized empty Git repository in .git/
$ git add .
$ git commit
Created initial commit a606982: Initial commit
 8 files changed, 0 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 awebfactory-logo-factory-only.gif
 create mode 100644 awebfactory-logo-factory-only.jpg
 create mode 100644 back_header.gif
 create mode 100644 twitter.jpg
 create mode 100644 twitter.png
 create mode 100644 twitter.xcf
 create mode 100644 twitter20090202.png
 create mode 100644 vk200810.jpg

Everything is now under version control. Cool

Add a new file to the working directory and add it to version control:


$ git add logo.gif
$ git commit -m "logo file already used"
Created commit e6d674b: logo file already used
 1 files changed, 0 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 logo.gif

Getting it done

Make your changes to your gimp file.

Generate your PNG file with File > Save As (just write in the png extension and Gimp will convert for you).

Now, see where you are at:


$ git status
# On branch master
# Changed but not updated:
#   (use "git add ..." to update what will be committed)
#
#       modified:   twitter.png
#       modified:   twitter.xcf
#

Then, commit your changes:


$ git commit -a -m "version 2"
Created commit a086f5d: version 2
 2 files changed, 501 insertions(+), 482 deletions(-)
 rewrite twitter.png (98%)
 rewrite twitter.xcf (73%)