How I Set Up the Git Repo for My Inflatable Project

When I started using the MeshFEM/Inflatables simulator for my soft robotics research, I made the mistake of cloning the repository directly from the original author without first forking it on GitHub. That gave me a local copy to explore and run, but it also meant I couldn’t use Git to track my own versions or push experimental changes until I reconfigured the project. This post walks through how I fixed that: first by customizing my terminal to show the active Git branch, then pointing the repository to my own fork, setting up Git authentication using a personal access token (PAT), and finally committing and pushing my changes.

Step 1: I Updated .bashrc to Show the Git Branch in My Prompt

I opened the .bashrc file using:

gedit ~/.bashrc

The following snippet is what I actually added to the file:

# Function to parse the current Git branch
parse_git_branch() {
    git branch 2> /dev/null | sed -e '/^[^*]/d' -e 's/* \(.*\)/ (\1)/'
}

# Custom prompt showing user@host:path (branch)
PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[31m\]$(parse_git_branch)\[\033[00m\]\$ '

After editing and saving the file, I applied the changes with:

source ~/.bashrc

Now, when I’m inside a Git repo, my terminal prompt looks like this:

`adru@ubuntu-inflatables:~/Inflatables (master)$`

Step 2: Changed the Remote Repository

To understand the state of the repository, I first reviewed its recent commit history:

git log

This showed the last few commits made by the original project maintainer Then I verified where my local Git repository was pointing:

git remote -v

As expected, it showed the origin was still set to the upstream repository:

origin  https://github.com/jpanetta/Inflatables.git (fetch) 
origin  https://github.com/jpanetta/Inflatables.git (push)

Since I had already forked the repository on GitHub, I updated the remote to point to my fork instead:

git remote set-url origin https://github.com/adrulpz/Inflatables.git

Then I verified that the change was successful:

git remote -v

The output confirmed that my local repo now pushes and pulls from my own fork:

origin  https://github.com/adrulpz/Inflatables.git (fetch) 
origin  https://github.com/adrulpz/Inflatables.git (push)

I staged all new and modified files:

git add --all

I confirmed that everything was staged and ready to commit:

git status

Step 3: Authenticating with GitHub Using a Personal Access Token (PAT)

After updating the remote to my fork, I attempted to push my local changes to GitHub:

`git push origin master`

Git prompted me for authentication:

`Username for 'https://github.com': adrulpz Password for 'https://github.com':`

🛑 Password Rejected GitHub has deprecated password-based authentication over HTTPS, so even though I entered my GitHub password, the push failed. Instead, GitHub now requires the use of Personal Access Tokens (PATs) for secure access.

To resolve this, I created a token via the GitHub web interface:

1. Go to https://github.com/settings/tokens
2. Click “Generate new token (classic)”
3. Select the necessary scopes (at minimum, repo)
4. Generate and copy it — it only shows once

   Step 4: Add and Commit Changes

git add --all 
git commit -m "first commit."
git push origin master

Let’s hope this is a good start toward improving my workflow and version control practices 😄