GitHub Classroom - updating template after students have accepted the assignment

[kevintgallo]

Hi everyone,

Hi folks,

I have a template in GH classroom that I created as starter code for my students. I set up my classroom and some students have accepted it.

I found an issue and I want to update the template for everyone. The issue is that GH classroom has created a new repo from the template and then forked all the students from that copy of the template. I have typically just did double the work and updated both the copy (the basis for the forks) and the original template repo.

Is there a way to just update the original template (as that is the long term repo for subsequent years) and then to just update the copy so that I can then using the standard fork updates from the students?

Basically, I just need to update a copy of a template from the template I think.

Thanks.

[Mayur-Pagote]

@kevintgallo you can follow these steps:

1. Start with Your Original Template

Make all your changes in the original template repository. This will be your main version to keep updated.

2. Update the GitHub Classroom Template

GitHub Classroom creates student repositories by forking the Classroom copy of your template, so you need to update this Classroom copy first.

How to Update the Classroom Copy:

• Option 1: Command Line
  1. Add the Classroom copy as a remote in your original template repository:

     git remote add classroom-copy <URL-of-Classroom-copy>

  2. Push your changes to the Classroom copy:

     git push classroom-copy main

• Option 2: GitHub Website
  1. Open the GitHub Classroom copy of the template in your browser.
  2. Start a pull request from your original template to the Classroom copy.
  3. Merge the pull request to sync changes.

3. Help Students Pull Updates

Once the Classroom copy is updated, students need to pull those changes into their own repositories.

Steps for Students:

1. Add the Classroom template as a remote:

   git remote add classroom-template <URL-of-Classroom-copy>

2. Pull the latest changes:

   git pull classroom-template main

Alternative:
Enable the "Update branch" feature in GitHub Classroom so students can update their repositories through the GitHub website without using the command line.

4. Automate Future Updates

To make this process easier for future assignments:

• Set up a GitHub Action in your original template to automatically push updates to the Classroom copy when you make changes.
• Use a script to simplify the workflow.

Hope this will help you.

[lingdoc]

this is a terrible "feature". what's the reason that GH classroom creates a copy/fork of the original template? this is a recent change that I really don't understand te reasoning behind. is there actually a good reason for this?