Skip to main content

Setting up the Lab Environment

Prerequisites​

You can work on any Linux setup (native install, WSL, VM), but we strongly recommend you use the operating-systems class VMs.

Laboratory archives​

All the laboratories have archives with the work items. We recommend working with the provided archives instead of using the repository. If, however, you want to use the repository directly, you can find instructions below.

Cloning the repository​

If you haven't already cloned the repository, do so and you are ready to go:

student@os:~$ git clone https://github.com/cs-pub-ro/operating-systems.git
student@os:~$ cd operating-systems

Getting the latest changes​

Each time you start a new laboratory, you should ensure you have the latest changes. If you have no local changes, you can simply run git pull and you are ready to go:

student@os:~$ cd operating-systems
student@os:~/operating-systems$ git status  # Check if you have unstaged changes
On branch <not-important>
nothing to commit, working tree clean

# "working tree clean" means that you have no changes
student@os:~/operating-systems$ git pull --rebase

If the git status output differs, follow the instructions to save your progress.

Save Progress and Prepare next lab​

  1. Check if you have unstaged changes that might be lost:

    student@os:~$ cd operating-systems
    student@os:~/operating-systems$ git status
    On branch <not-important>
    Changes not staged for commit:
    (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
    (use "git restore <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
            modified:   main.c

    If git status states "work tree clean", you should follow the instructions to pull latest changes instead.

  2. Create a commit to store your changes:

    student@os:~/operating-systems$ git add -f .  # Use -f as `support/` directories are ignored
    student@os:~/operating-systems$ git commit -m "Store progress for lab X"
    student@os:~/operating-systems$ git status    # double check that everything was committed
    On branch <not-important>
    nothing to commit, working tree clean

  3. Create a new branch for lab Y:

    student@os:~/operating-systems$ git checkout -b lab-Y main  # Replace Y with lab number
    student@os:~/operating-systems$ git pull origin main        # Get latest changes from origin/main

  4. (Optional) Finding previous labs

    Assuming you followed the instructions in this section, you can find your previous work on other branches:

    student@os:~/operating-systems$ git branch
    main
    lab-1
    lab-2
    * lab-3
    student@os:~/operating-systems$ git checkout lab-2
    Switched to branch 'lab-2'