git fatal error Path with a does not make sense

Question

I have existing code on my computer, then I have registerd my account on sourceforge, starting a git project. Now I need to send my local project on sourceforge remote space. On sf there's the instruction page:

First time using Git

cd miorep-code
git init
git commit -a -m 'Initial commit'
git remote add origin ssh://****/p/miorep/code
git push origin master

Existing Repository

cd miorep-code
git remote add origin ssh://****/p/miorep/code
git push origin master

If I follow the first set of instructions, I have a

"Fatal: Paths with -a does not make sense"

when I get git commit -a -m 'Initial commit'.

If I follow the second set of instruction I get:

error: src refspec master does not match any. error: failed to push some refs to 'ssh://**/p/ravenna/code'

when I exec the last command.

What's the correct set of instructions in my case? Why I get that error?

Answer 1

The first set of instructions don't make sense:

cd miorep-code
git init
git commit -a -m 'Initial commit'

There needs to be a git add between git init and git commit, because otherwise git doesn't know what you want to commit. Your second error...

error: src refspec master does not match any. error: failed to push some refs to 'ssh://**/p/ravenna/code'

...means you haven't actually committed anything to your local repository yet, so there is no master branch to push.

What you want to do is:

cd miorep-code
git init
git add .
git commit -m 'initial commit'
git push origin master

You'll note that this is almost identical to your first set of instructions, except we've add a git add . which means "add everything in my current directory and below to my repository".

Answer 2

The single-quote ' is the problem. Change it to double-quotes, like "initial commit". Use double-quotes in Windows-cmd instead of single-quote.

@AndrewC: read this before doing the downvote: http://git-scm.com/book/en/Git-Basics-Recording-Changes-to-the-Repository#Skipping-the-Staging-Area