git with github through a firewall

Git supports a new, much more efficient HTTP based transport as of version 1.6.6.

With the git’s new Smart HTTP support it is possible to access github even without ssh access. SSH access is typically not possible from behind a corporate firewall. Though, most environments allow http through a (authenticating) proxy. With http support it is possible under these circumstances to access github, you can now push over that protocol and clone private repositories as well.

To clone one of your repositories having push access as well, you can clone this way:

git clone https://username@github.com/username/project.git

Be sure to use SSL (https) as git asks for your github password and sends your password unencrypted over the wire.

For a public repository you can use:
git clone http://github.com/username/project.git

You need Git client version 1.6.6 or greater. For windows you can download it here:
http://code.google.com/p/msysgit/downloads/list

After the install be sure to set the path environment variable to the directory C:\Program Files\Git\cmd\ or whereever git is installed on your computer.

Set both (https and http) proxy environment variables:

HTTPS_PROXY=http://user:password@proxy.firma.de:port
HTTP_PROXY=http://user:password@proxy.firma.de:port

I got the following error message:

error: error setting certificate verify locations:
  CAfile: /bin/curl-ca-bundle.crt
  CApath: none
 while accessing https://mgross@github.com/mgross/gmailr.git/info/refs

Which was solved by setting git config:

git config --global http.sslverify false

To push your changes to github use the following command:
git push origin master

More about ‘Working with Remotes’ can be found at Pro Git