Basic Git Prettification (Colors and Shortcuts) in Linux

At work, we use Git as our version control system. When I installed Git on OSX via Homebrew, it already had some useful configs setup out of the box. I love Git so much, I now host any small coding projects on Github (not much going on right now).

I installed Git on Ubuntu 12.04 using apt-get, but it failed to configure all the nice little shortcuts and color schemes I've gotten used to in OSX. Here are some useful git configs I just can't seem to do without. You can edit your .gitconfig or run these commands directly in your terminal:

Status/Diff Colors

git config --global color.status auto
git config --global color.diff auto
git config --global color.branch auto

Command Shortcuts

git config --global alias.br branch
git config --global alias.co checkout
git config --global alias.st status

User Info

git config --global user.name "Your Name Comes Here"
git config --global user.email you@yourdomain.example.com

Let me know what other useful settings you have in your Git configuration!

Simple Password Encrypted Files w/ GnuPG

If you are sending files or documents with sensitive information (eg. database credentials), you probably don't want to send it without making sure it is encrypted. In Linux and OSX, I use a tool called GnuPG to add password protection to files I want to share with other people. This is, by no means, the best way to send sensitive information to someone else, but it does provide a small layer of protection against an unintended recipient opening and reading the contents.

Install GnuPG

For Ubuntu, fire up a terminal and run:

sudo apt-get install gpg

For OSX, install Homebrew and run:

brew install gpg

Encrypting Files

To encrypt a sensitive file, navigate to the directory of the file and run:

gpg -c sensitive.txt

Output:

Enter passphrase: 
Repeat passphrase: 

If all is well, GnuPG will create an encrypted file named sensitive.txt.gpg. If someone tries to open and read the contents, they will get nothing but gibberish!

Decrypting Files

To decrypt a file, navigate to the directory of the file and run:

gpg sensitive.txt.gpg

Output:

gpg: CAST5 encrypted data
Enter passphrase: 

Now, enter the passphrase set for the file during encryption. Voila! The file is now decrypted as sensitive.txt.

Note: You may get the following: gpg: WARNING: message was not integrity protected, but it doesn't affect the result.

Command Line Pandora with Pianobar

I really enjoy living as much of my life in the CLI as possible. It takes up less memory and is arguably easier to use. For streaming music, I like to use Pandora radio. After searching around, I found a cool command line Pandora client called Pianobar.

As of Ubuntu 12.04 and the writing of this blog, the repository version of Pianobar doesn't work since Pandora has changed around its API. So, we have to compile it from source.

Install Dependencies

For Ubuntu, run the following in the terminal:

sudo apt-get install libao-dev libfaad-dev libmad0-dev libjson0 libjson0-dev libgnutls-dev

For OSX, install Homebrew and run:

brew install libao faad2 libmad json-c gnutls

Download and Compile Pianobar

The latest version of Pianobar as of the writing of this blog is version 2012.06.24. Save the file anywhere on your computer and navigate to that directory. You'll need to uncompress the file by running the following:

tar xvjf pianobar-2012.06.24.tar.bz2

Now, we are ready to compile. Navigate into the uncompressed directory and run:

make clean
make

This will create an executable pianobar. You can test it by running:

./pianobar

Install Pianobar

If everything works correctly, run:

make install

Now enjoy Pandora from the command line!