Distributed Version Control With Git

Developers, ever use Git? Git, like Subversion, is a (distributed) version control system: a way to track changes across each of your files, forever. Just as Subversion was a leap ahead of CVS, Git surpasses Subversion, particularly in regards to branching and merging.

Subversion branching is a cumbersome process at best: "svn copy" commands are executed at some revision number, which you must keep track of for later merging. Any time you port trunk changes into your branch, you have to again carefully note from X to Y revision. Add to the mix multiple developers each with their own branches and maintenance becomes a nightmare.

Your Git repository, however, is itself a branch of the original project! Each developer has a full copy of the entire project, including file history, in their local branch. (This is what makes Git "distributed".) Commits to your branch are all local. You can queue up as many commits as you want, even while offline, before merging your changes back to the remote repository. A single "git push" command is all that is needed to take care of all merging at this point; no need to remember revision numbers or paths!

Worried about navigating through all these distributed branches and commits? No need: Git comes with powerful command line and graphic tools already built into your repository. If that's not enough, check out GitHub for (potentially) free hosting space. You might even notice that Elgg is already hosted here. That's right, all Elgg trunk commits go into both Subversion and Git!

To learn more about Git, I strongly recommend checking out the Pro Git book by Scott Chacon. It's released under a Creative Commons license, meaning it's absolutely free to read online!