Setting Up a GitHub Account

Git and GitHub require more secure authentication methods than username and password validation before providing access to private repos.
You have to add either an SSH key or Personal Authentication Token to your account before you can begin working on COMPASS projects.

This article will cover account setup topics including:
- Adding an SSH key to your account
- Adding a Personal Access Token
- Requesting access to COMPASS repos

Adding an SSH Key to Your Account

SSH keys are the most convenient authentication method, so it is highly recommended to use them, however they are system-specific, so you will need to create new ones for each system you use.
Start by opening your Linux terminal (see Installing a Linux Environment on Windows (WSL) first if you don't have one), then start by finding out if you have an existing SSH key or generating a new one if needed.
This process is thoroughly documented by GitHub, starting with Checking for existing SSH keys.

Adding a Personal Access Token (PAT)

Git (and GitHub by extension) uses Personal Access Tokens for authentication instead of passwords for private repos cloned via HTTPS.
Check out the GitHub documentation on PATs for the full process, but in short, you can find the security token menu in developer settings and add a new token there.
Tokens can either be fine-grained or classic, but most of the time human users need classic tokens with repo access at the bare minimum.
It is a good idea to follow the principle of least privilege with these, so only give yourself the capabilities you know you'll use.

Requesting Access to COMPASS Repos

As part of your onboarding you should already be a member of the COMPASS organization and have access to organization-wide repos like this one, but you will likely need access to more repos once you are assigned a project. To get access, please contact an organization owner.

The following are the current organization owners and their emails (you can also message them on the COMPASS Slack):
- Derek Schafer (dschafer1@unm.edu)
- Riley Shipley (rpshipley@tntech.edu)
- Jason Stewart (jastewart@unm.edu)
- Patrick Bridges (patrickb@unm.edu)

Once you are familiar with the content in these articles, please read the COMPASS GitHub Guidelines for more details on the general principles used in COMPASS repositories.