def _update_github(
            self):
        """commit the changes and push them to github
        """
        self.log.debug('starting the ``_update_github`` method')

        from subprocess import Popen, PIPE, STDOUT
        gdir = self.settings["sherlock wiki root"]
        cmd = """cd %(gdir)s && git add --all && git commit -m "x" && git pull origin master && git push origin master""" % locals()
        p = Popen(cmd, stdout=PIPE, stdin=PIPE, shell=True)
        output = p.communicate()[0]
        print output
        self.log.debug('output: %(output)s' % locals())

        self.log.debug('completed the ``_update_github`` method')
        return None
commit the changes and push them to github