How to publish local files on a remote server to a Github repository if you want to edit the files locally (on your development PC)

Given you have the following workflow:

1. A local PC or Mac with PhpStorm
2. A remote server where all your staging/production files are stored

Your aim is to edit selected local files on the remote server but not take a hold of the entire project as it’s too large and will take long and / or take up a lot of disk space.

You wish to edit the files locally on your PC or Mac, then publish to Github so that you have version control, and then pull the remote changes onto the server so that the server is up to date.

You’re starting from fresh.

Create a blank project on Github without the readme.

On the remote server, in the root directory of the project:

git init

‘git add’ the files you want to be added, e.g.

git add modules/addons/zomex_template_manager/lang/english.php

Then:

git commit -m "First commit"

Add your credentials:

git config --global user.email "youremail@yourdomain"
git config --global user.name "Your name"

Add the remote:

git remote add origin https://github.com/yourrepo/yourproject.git
git push origin master

Now in PhpStorm start a new project from Existing Files, and specify your Github credentials. You will be presented with your Github projects. Choose the correct project.

Make changes to the file. Use Control K to publish to Github, and then Push in PhpStorm.

Back on the remote server:

git fetch && git pull

Git pull will fail. Do this:

git branch --set-upstream-to=origin/master master

Now to `git pull` again.

You now have a round trip workflow. Henceforth you only have to publish and push from Github, and fetch and pull on the remote server.

If you’re having to type your credentials the whole time, do this:

git config credential.helper store

Some errors you might encounter:

git pull
fatal: refusing to merge unrelated histories

You could try this but be sure careful as it resets the merge history:

git rebase origin/master

References:
https://help.github.com/articles/adding-an-existing-project-to-github-using-the-command-line/
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/32056324/there-is-no-tracking-information-for-the-current-branch

The key is the comment provided on the Stack Overflow post:

“This branch tracking is set up for you automatically when you clone a repository (for the default branch only), but if you add a remote to an existing repository you have to set up the tracking yourself. Thankfully, the advice given by git makes that pretty easy to remember how to do.”