What is Git?
Git is a distributed version control system (DVCS) designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency. It was created by Linus Torvalds in 2005 for the development of the Linux kernel, with the aim of providing a faster, more scalable, and distributed alternative to the existing version control systems at the time.
History
Before Git, Linus Torvalds and other developers used BitKeeper, a proprietary version control system. However, when the free version of BitKeeper was withdrawn, the need for a new, open-source solution became apparent. Git was first released on April 7, 2005. Here are some key points in its development:
- April 2005 - Git was first released.
- 2007 - GitHub was launched, providing a web-based Git repository hosting service, which significantly boosted Git's popularity.
- 2008 - Git 1.6 was released with significant improvements including the 'git push --force' command.
- 2010 - Git 1.7 was released, introducing features like 'git submodule update --init --recursive'.
- 2011 - Git 1.7.9.5 added a feature to improve the handling of large repositories.
- 2016 - Git 2.0 was released, introducing a new internal merge strategy 'ort' and other enhancements.
Features and Architecture
Git has several distinctive features:
- Distributed: Every developer's working copy of the code is also a repository that can contain the full history of all changes.
- Non-linear Development: Supports branches, allowing for multiple parallel developments.
- Speed: Operations like commit, branch, and merge are fast because most operations are local.
- Integrity: Uses SHA-1 hash for integrity checks on data.
- Staging Area: Allows developers to stage changes for the next commit, providing more control over what gets committed.
- Efficient Branching and Merging: Branches in Git are lightweight, making branching and merging operations very fast and simple.
Usage
Git is used in various environments:
- Software Development: For managing source code, tracking changes, and coordinating work among multiple developers.
- Documentation: For versioning and collaborative writing of documents.
- Content Management: To manage content for websites, especially those with frequent updates.
Git Workflow
The typical workflow includes:
- Initialize a repository with
git init.
- Add files to the staging area with
git add.
- Commit changes with
git commit.
- Create branches with
git branch or git checkout -b.
- Merge branches with
git merge.
- Push changes to a remote repository with
git push.
- Pull changes from a remote repository with
git pull.
External Links
See Also