Revision Control

Git – distributed version control system

Git is a popular version control system designed to handle very large projects with speed and efficiency; it is used for many high profile open source projects, most notably the Linux kernel.

It has an unusually rich command set that provides both high-level operations and full access to internals.

Git falls in the category of distributed source code management tools. Every Git working directory is a full-fledged repository with full revision tracking capabilities, not dependent on network access or a central server.

Features include:

  • Distributed development. Git gives each developer a local copy of the entire development history, and changes are copied from one such repository to another.
  • 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.
  • Efficient handling of large projects. Git is very fast and scales well even when working with large projects and long histories.
  • Cryptographic authentication of history.
  • Repositories can be published via HTTP, FTP, rsync, or a Git protocol over either a plain socket or ssh.
  • Toolkit design. Git is a collection of many small tools written in C, and a number of scripts that provide convenient wrappers.
  • Pluggable merge strategies.

Website: git-scm.com
Support: Documentation
Developer: Junio Hamano, Linus Torvalds and many others
License: GNU General Public License v2.0

Git is written in C. Learn C with our recommended free books and free tutorials.

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