How getting software from GitHub works?

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I normally consider myself pretty handy with computers, but I’m no programmer. I know GitHub is primarily for programmers, but I often find GitHub pages when looking for specific programs, and always end up walking away frustrated because anything I try to download just gives me a whole bunch of unfamiliar file-names and what I’m guessing is some uncompiled data? I really don’t know, and it just confuses me what I’m supposed to do in order to actually execute files I find on GitHub? I’ve heard something about Python and something about Cmd (Is that Windows Command Line Prompt?) and whenever I look up tutorials or guides for GitHub I find primer videos for programmers, not user friendly newbie guides for people who just want to download a piece of software.

In: Technology

12 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

The files on Github are generally meant for other programmers, as you note. If you want to download something and have it Just Work™, the file has to be specifically intended and packaged for download. Consider [this repo](https://github.com/remyroy/CDDA-Game-Launcher/releases), for a GUI launcher for a game.

It’s packaged for end-user download, by just clicking the EXE or ZIP file.

If you try to download a repo that’s meant for another purpose, you’ll only get the source code in the repo. You’re meant to “fork” the repo (create a copy for your use) and then download it into a workspace.

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