Newb: Setting up a Sourcetree/Acquia Dev Desktop environment *locally*

[Smartin]

I'm very new to Drupal 8 development, although I have built a number of D6/7 sites...

D8 seems to require Composer in many cases. Composer is *entirely* new to me and I'm finding that I'm breaking sites very easily whilst I'm experimenting with it. Therefore I'd like to have a GIT safetynet where I can roll back any disasters!

I want to avoid any cloud services like GitHub for the moment and work entirely locally on my Mac.

I use the Acquia Dev Desktop to create my original sites and provide the working environment. This means that I can't move the original folder once the site is created in the first instance.

How do I set up Sourcetree in this environment?

I think I have set up a new Repo, using the folder the original D8 installation was made into.

Given that this is in effect also the 'Live server' is this a good idea? If not, how else do I set things up?

Do I create a 'Branch' as my fallback 'Safetynet' and then revert to this if disaster strikes?

I'm altogether a bit at a loss on how to start...

Simon

[Ana Retamal]

Hi Smartin,

Are you using Git already? The first step would be to convert your code to a Git repository, you can do that following this tutorial.

Once you start using Git, you already have a safety net. Note that Sourcetree doesn't provide an extra layer of security or anything like that, Sourcetree is basically a graphical interface for Git so you don't need to use the terminal. You can also read Get started with Sourcetree.

Let us know if you have any questions!

Ana