Pro Git explains version control from the inside
Summary
Scott Chacon's freely available book explains Git from the everyday workflow to the object model and distributed server operation. Pro Git was originally published in 2009. The book is licensed under a Creative Commons licence.
Ideas
- Git stores snapshots instead of a sequence of individual file differences.
- Commits immutably point to trees, parents and metadata.
- Branches are movable pointers to commits.
- Local history allows fast work without a network connection.
- Remotes connect several equivalent copies of a repository.
- Rebase transfers changes onto another line of development.
Insights
- Git becomes easier to use once the object model is clear.
- Cheap branches encourage experiments and small integration steps.
- Distributed histories improve availability but do not replace backup rules.
- History can be shaped as long as published dependencies are respected.
Facts
- The current edition is available online free of charge.
- Git stores objects by cryptographic hash values.
Recommendations
- Learn commits, trees, blobs and references before complex commands.
- Do not publish rewritten shared history.
- Additionally back up important repositories outside your working machines.
References
Links to the original source and the Web Archive open in a new tab.