11/6/2016 GitAboutVersionControl

distributedisthenewcentralized
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Chapters

1.1.GettingStarted

1.1.1AboutVersionControl
2.1.2AShortHistoryofGit
3.1.3GitBasics

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4.1.4TheCommandLine
5.1.5InstallingGit
6.1.6FirstTimeGitSetup
7.1.7GettingHelp
8.1.8Summary

2.2.GitBasics

1.2.1GettingaGitRepository
2.2.2RecordingChangestotheRepository
3.2.3ViewingtheCommitHistory
4.2.4UndoingThings
5.2.5WorkingwithRemotes
6.2.6Tagging
7.2.7GitAliases
8.2.8Summary

3.3.GitBranching

1.3.1BranchesinaNutshell
2.3.2BasicBranchingandMerging
3.3.3BranchManagement
4.3.4BranchingWorkflows
5.3.5RemoteBranches
6.3.6Rebasing
7.3.7Summary

4.4.GitontheServer

1.4.1TheProtocols
2.4.2GettingGitonaServer
3.4.3GeneratingYourSSHPublicKey
4.4.4SettingUptheServer
5.4.5GitDaemon
6.4.6SmartHTTP
7.4.7GitWeb
8.4.8GitLab
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9.4.9ThirdPartyHostedOptions
10.4.10Summary

5.5.DistributedGit

1.5.1DistributedWorkflows
2.5.2ContributingtoaProject
3.5.3MaintainingaProject
4.5.4Summary

1.6.GitHub

1.6.1AccountSetupandConfiguration
2.6.2ContributingtoaProject
3.6.3MaintainingaProject
4.6.4Managinganorganization
5.6.5ScriptingGitHub
6.6.6Summary

2.7.GitTools

1.7.1RevisionSelection
2.7.2InteractiveStaging
3.7.3StashingandCleaning
4.7.4SigningYourWork
5.7.5Searching
6.7.6RewritingHistory
7.7.7ResetDemystified
8.7.8AdvancedMerging
9.7.9Rerere
10.7.10DebuggingwithGit
11.7.11Submodules
12.7.12Bundling
13.7.13Replace
14.7.14CredentialStorage
15.7.15Summary

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3.8.CustomizingGit

1.8.1GitConfiguration
2.8.2GitAttributes
3.8.3GitHooks
4.8.4AnExampleGitEnforcedPolicy
5.8.5Summary

4.9.GitandOtherSystems

1.9.1GitasaClient
2.9.2MigratingtoGit
3.9.3Summary

5.10.GitInternals

1.10.1PlumbingandPorcelain
2.10.2GitObjects
3.10.3GitReferences
4.10.4Packfiles
5.10.5TheRefspec
6.10.6TransferProtocols
7.10.7MaintenanceandDataRecovery
8.10.8EnvironmentVariables
9.10.9Summary

1.A1.GitinOtherEnvironments

1.A1.1GraphicalInterfaces
2.A1.2GitinVisualStudio
3.A1.3GitinEclipse
4.A1.4GitinBash
5.A1.5GitinZsh
6.A1.6GitinPowershell
7.A1.7Summary

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2.A2.EmbeddingGitinyourApplications

1.A2.1CommandlineGit
2.A2.2Libgit2
3.A2.3JGit

3.A3.GitCommands

1.A3.1SetupandConfig
2.A3.2GettingandCreatingProjects
3.A3.3BasicSnapshotting
4.A3.4BranchingandMerging
5.A3.5SharingandUpdatingProjects
6.A3.6InspectionandComparison
7.A3.7Debugging
8.A3.8Patching
9.A3.9Email
10.A3.10ExternalSystems
11.A3.11Administration
12.A3.12PlumbingCommands

2ndEdition

1.1GettingStartedAboutVersionControl
ThischapterwillbeaboutgettingstartedwithGit.Wewillbeginbyexplainingsomebackgroundonversioncontroltools,thenmoveontohowtogetGit
runningonyoursystemandfinallyhowtogetitsetuptostartworkingwith.AttheendofthischapteryoushouldunderstandwhyGitisaround,whyyou
shoulduseitandyoushouldbeallsetuptodoso.

AboutVersionControl
Whatis"versioncontrol",andwhyshouldyoucare?Versioncontrolisasystemthatrecordschangestoafileorsetoffilesovertimesothatyoucanrecall
specificversionslater.Fortheexamplesinthisbookyouwillusesoftwaresourcecodeasthefilesbeingversioncontrolled,thoughinrealityyoucandothis
withnearlyanytypeoffileonacomputer.

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Ifyouareagraphicorwebdesignerandwanttokeepeveryversionofanimageorlayout(whichyouwouldmostcertainlywantto),aVersionControlSystem
(VCS)isaverywisethingtouse.Itallowsyoutorevertfilesbacktoapreviousstate,reverttheentireprojectbacktoapreviousstate,comparechangesover
time,seewholastmodifiedsomethingthatmightbecausingaproblem,whointroducedanissueandwhen,andmore.UsingaVCSalsogenerallymeansthatif
youscrewthingsuporlosefiles,youcaneasilyrecover.Inaddition,yougetallthisforverylittleoverhead.

LocalVersionControlSystems
Manypeoplesversioncontrolmethodofchoiceistocopyfilesintoanotherdirectory(perhapsatimestampeddirectory,iftheyreclever).Thisapproachis
verycommonbecauseitissosimple,butitisalsoincrediblyerrorprone.Itiseasytoforgetwhichdirectoryyoureinandaccidentallywritetothewrongfileor
copyoverfilesyoudontmeanto.

Todealwiththisissue,programmerslongagodevelopedlocalVCSsthathadasimpledatabasethatkeptallthechangestofilesunderrevisioncontrol.

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Figure11.Localversioncontrol.
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OneofthemorepopularVCStoolswasasystemcalledRCS,whichisstilldistributedwithmanycomputerstoday.EventhepopularMacOSXoperating
systemincludesthercscommandwhenyouinstalltheDeveloperTools.RCSworksbykeepingpatchsets(thatis,thedifferencesbetweenfiles)inaspecial
formatondiskitcanthenrecreatewhatanyfilelookedlikeatanypointintimebyaddingupallthepatches.

CentralizedVersionControlSystems
Thenextmajorissuethatpeopleencounteristhattheyneedtocollaboratewithdevelopersonothersystems.Todealwiththisproblem,CentralizedVersion
ControlSystems(CVCSs)weredeveloped.Thesesystems,suchasCVS,Subversion,andPerforce,haveasingleserverthatcontainsalltheversionedfiles,and
anumberofclientsthatcheckoutfilesfromthatcentralplace.Formanyyears,thishasbeenthestandardforversioncontrol.

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Figure12.Centralizedversioncontrol.

Thissetupoffersmanyadvantages,especiallyoverlocalVCSs.Forexample,everyoneknowstoacertaindegreewhateveryoneelseontheprojectisdoing.
AdministratorshavefinegrainedcontroloverwhocandowhatanditsfareasiertoadministeraCVCSthanitistodealwithlocaldatabasesoneveryclient.

However,thissetupalsohassomeseriousdownsides.Themostobviousisthesinglepointoffailurethatthecentralizedserverrepresents.Ifthatservergoes
downforanhour,thenduringthathournobodycancollaborateatallorsaveversionedchangestoanythingtheyreworkingon.Iftheharddiskthecentral
databaseisonbecomescorrupted,andproperbackupshaventbeenkept,youloseabsolutelyeverythingtheentirehistoryoftheprojectexceptwhatever

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singlesnapshotspeoplehappentohaveontheirlocalmachines.LocalVCSsystemssufferfromthissameproblemwheneveryouhavetheentirehistoryof
theprojectinasingleplace,yourisklosingeverything.

DistributedVersionControlSystems
ThisiswhereDistributedVersionControlSystems(DVCSs)stepin.InaDVCS(suchasGit,Mercurial,BazaarorDarcs),clientsdontjustcheckoutthelatest
snapshotofthefiles:theyfullymirrortherepository.Thusifanyserverdies,andthesesystemswerecollaboratingviait,anyoftheclientrepositoriescanbe
copiedbackuptotheservertorestoreit.Everycloneisreallyafullbackupofallthedata.

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Figure13.Distributedversioncontrol.

Furthermore,manyofthesesystemsdealprettywellwithhavingseveralremoterepositoriestheycanworkwith,soyoucancollaboratewithdifferentgroupsof
peopleindifferentwayssimultaneouslywithinthesameproject.Thisallowsyoutosetupseveraltypesofworkflowsthatarentpossibleincentralizedsystems,
suchashierarchicalmodels.

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