To grab the files use git clone git@github.com:jpcoles/glass-papers Files will got into the glass-papers/ directory. You can update from the server at any time by typing git pull inside the glass-papers/ directory. If LaTeX or BiBTeX complain that they can't find mn2e.cls or mn2e.bst, just copy them into the manuscript directory. For these files -- or any other changes specific to your computer -- "git cp" or "git add" should NOT be used. To edit collaboratively, you'll need to do a few more things. 1. Create yourself an account on github (free) and tell jpcoles your username, so he can add you as a collaborator. 2. Configure git on your machine, adapting the following git config --global user.name "Alan M Turing" git config --global user.email amt@universal.machine This is not essential, but good practice. It's fine to put your real name and email address here -- no spam results. This step needs to be done once per person per machine. 3. Set ssh keys so you can communicate securely with the server. See https://help.github.com/articles/generating-ssh-keys This step also needs to be done once per person per machine. 4. When you add a new file that you wish to be tracked: git add myfile 5. When you want to send your current version to the server: git commit -am "short message" git push 6. A useful command is git status 7. You can see stats and stuff here: https://github.com/jpcoles/glass-papers 8. Absolutely everything about git: http://git-scm.com/book/