Not just for source code: Versioning with Git

Distributed Management

© spectral, 123RF.com

© spectral, 123RF.com

Article from Issue 146/2013
Author(s):

When several people collaborate on source code or documents, things can get messy fast. Git provides a quick cure: The distributed versioning system reliably ensures the integrity and consistency of data with minimal effort.

Documents and source code that are used, changed, and processed by multiple users are often located on a central file server while individuals work with local copies. Searching manually for differences between individual documents often leaves questions as to whether a newer version of a document exists, and if so, who is behind it. A versioning system, as employed with many software projects, can help tidy up the mess. One of the most powerful contenders in this field is Git [1].

Git was developed in 2005 by Linus Torvalds to manage the Linux kernel source code. To do this, Git had to meet a number of requirements:

  • It had to be quick, support several parallel branches, and be capable of exchanging data between different repositories.
  • It had to support data integrity checks and prevent data objects stored in the repository from being modified retroactively.

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