Can you imagine a day at work when you and your team do their tasks without a solution to track changes in the source code? There was a time when a development process ran much harder. But issues that put your day-to-day work on hold also bring/give birth to brilliant ideas. And during such times Linus Torvalds came up with such a brilliant technology. Git changed the way in which the IT world operates. And as you are reading this text, you are probably thinking about making this big step too. So, let’s begin with answering what is git and why it’s worth implementing git into your organization.
Git introduction
Git was launched in 2005 and has become one of the most widely used version control systems. This is not an exaggeration as git owns about 70 percent of market shares today. Let’s move beyond the numbers and answer the main question – what is a version control system also referred to as VCS? Version control is a system, a software tool that tracks all changes to a source code over time. When code is managed this way the initial development process also greatly improves.
If not git then maybe one of git hosting services? There are a few possible products on the market, but GitHub, Bitbucket, and GitLab are the most popular ones. All offer additional functionalities, like specialized tools for DevOps operations. I will talk about this more in one of the later articles, now let’s discuss what benefits has to offer a git migration.
What will you gain by implementing git?
Let’s consider for a moment what will you gain by switching to git. As mentioned before, git is a distributed version control system. In practice, this means that each developer keeps a copy of the source code – in the form of a repository – locally on the device. All changes to the code can be done remotely, then pushed, tested – this part is known as a code review – merged, and finally published. OK, this process is more complex but I presume you get the right impression. If your business relies heavily on software and IT practices, adopting Git will radically change the way you and your team complete work or projects. Basically, git is a great tool to improve your team productivity and performance. It is a great help in maintaining code (it’s quality) and speeding releases – in a good way, of course. All these benefits exceed any potential drowbags you may experience right at the beginning.
Does GitHub really is the (git)king?
What makes GitHub different from git? Think about git as s technology around which GitHub service is built. Why I am writing about GitHub and not Bitbucket instead? Both are great – the first one rules among open source projects. To this day there is about 56 million GitHub account on a global scale! GitHub is also home to many popular projects, like Visual Studio Code, Node.js, and Tensorflow. To be frank, there is about 29 million public repositories hosted there. GitHub also shines when it comes to its community. Bitbucket being a part of the Atlassian portfolio is a great option for enterprise organizations.
Findings – is git for you?
Git and GitHub are great overall, perfect for code development but not for backing up your source code. This is no surprise because they are not backup solutions. Unfortunately, this is a common mistake, one which could cost you a lot of money if something happens to your repos. GitHub, and many other git hosting services states directly / bluntly that providing backup is the user’s responsibility. The company also suggests the use of professional third-party backup. And while choosing an endpoint backup you will search only for PRO and recognizable brand, there should be no difference when it comes to backing up your DevOps ecosystem.
