Git

Git-logo-2012

Git is a distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency. Git is easy to learn and has a tiny footprint with lightning-fast performance. It outclasses SCM tools like Subversion, CVS, Perforce, and ClearCase with features like cheap local branching, convenient staging areas, and multiple workflows.

History

Git was created by Linus Torvalds in 2005 for development of the Linux kernel, with other kernel developers contributing to its initial development. Its development was motivated by the need for a distributed system that could be used offline, provide faster operations, and improve security and flexibility when compared to the systems available at the time, such as BitKeeper and CVS.

Design

The design of Git is a departure from the centralized version control model. Instead, it is based on a distributed model, where every developer's working copy of the code is also a repository that can contain the full history of all changes. This decentralized approach facilitates various workflows, whether they be solo development, team collaboration, or hierarchical team structures, making Git a versatile tool for developers.

Features

- Branching and Merging: Git allows and encourages branching and merging, with simple and powerful tools to manage branches. This encourages experimenting and diverging from the main line of development, and provides the ability to merge changes back into the main branch or discard them with ease. - Speed: Git is designed for speed. Committing new changes, branching, merging, and comparing past versions are all optimized for performance. - Data Integrity: Git ensures the integrity of version history by using a cryptographic hash function (SHA-1) to identify and manage files and directories. - Staging Area: Git has an intermediate stage called the "staging area" or "index", where commits can be formatted and reviewed before completing the commit. - Distributed Development: With Git, every developer has their own local repository, complete with a full history of commits. This not only makes working offline possible but also makes a wide variety of workflows and policies possible.

Usage

Git is used for source code management in software development and other version control tasks. It is designed to handle a small to very large projects with speed and efficiency. Git is used by both individual developers and large teams, where it serves as the backbone for many popular web services, open-source projects, and commercial applications.

Installation and Setup

Git can be installed on Linux, macOS, and Windows. Installation methods vary depending on the operating system, but once installed, setting up Git requires configuring user information used across all local repositories. This setup includes setting up the user name and email address, which are important for commit messages.

Basic Commands

- git init: Initializes a new Git repository. - git clone: Clones a repository into a new directory. - git add: Adds file contents to the index. - git commit: Records changes to the repository. - git status: Shows the working tree status. - git push: Updates remote refs along with associated objects. - git pull: Fetches from and integrates with another repository or a local branch. - git branch: Lists, creates, or deletes branches. - git merge: Joins two or more development histories together.

See Also

- Version control - Software development - GitHub - Bitbucket - GitLab