CSC/ECE 517 Fall 2014/ch1a F1415 rv

Introduction

What is Git?

Git (/ɡɪt/) is a locally enabled distributed revision control and source code management (SCM) system with an emphasis on speed, data integrity, and support for distributed, non-linear workflows. Git was initially designed and developed by Linus Torvalds for Linux kernel development in 2005, and has since become the most widely adopted version control system for software development. Github, a git repository web-based hosting service is in fact the largest code host on the planet with over 15.7 million repositories. Large or small, every repository comes with the same powerful tools. These tools are open to the community for public projects and secure for private projects. As with most other distributed revision control systems, and unlike most client–server systems, every Git working directory is a full-fledged repository with complete history and full version-tracking capabilities, independent of network access or a central server. Like the Linux kernel, Git is free software distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2.

Characteristics of Git

Strong support for non-linear development

Git supports rapid and convenient branching and merging, and includes powerful tools for visualizing and navigating a non-linear development history.

Distributed development

Like most other modern version control systems, Git gives each developer a local copy of the entire development history, and changes are copied from one such repository to another. These changes are imported as additional development branches, and can be merged in the same way as a locally developed branch. Repositories can be easily accessed via the efficient Git protocol (optionally wrapped in ssh for authentication and security) or simply using HTTP - you can publish your repository anywhere without any special webserver configuration required.

Efficient handling of large projects

Git is very fast and scales well even when working with large projects and long histories. It is commonly an order of magnitude faster than most other version control systems, and several orders of magnitude faster on some operations. It also uses an extremely efficient packed format for long-term revision storage that currently tops any other open source version control system.

Cryptographic authentication of history

The Git history is stored in such a way that the name of a particular revision (a "commit" in Git terms) depends upon the complete development history leading up to that commit. Once it is published, it is not possible to change the old versions without it being noticed. Also, tags can be cryptographically signed.

Toolkit-based design

Following the Unix tradition, Git is a collection of many small tools written in C, and a number of scripts that provide convenient wrappers. Git provides tools for both convenient human usage and easy scripting to perform new clever operations.