Define and design project with structure: which parts and how they interact
Avoid thousands of versions and their storage for the same file(s)
Document changes as the files are built and go back to previous versions
Collaborate effectively with other people when making projects
Version control with Git
Fundamentals
Why version control?
Has this ever happened to you?
The project is the production of a report and you take the initiative to start it.
Natural instinct : create the first version naming it "v1".
You send it to Ana and Bob for their parts and revision, while you also keep working on it.
Natural instinct : Ana and Bob work on their parts and name them something different.
The project now exists in 3 different versions!
All of them at different stages of progress.
You or someone else has to put them all together manually!
This will probably lead to a lot of confusion and to errors!
Now what?: A better approach
"Never lose control on what you’re doing" - MV
What is version control?
The most robust paradigm to structure and organize your projects
A system that allows to effectively track changes and merge files
A hub to connect project developers
A platform to share locally (your computer folder) and remotely your projects
Version control is mostly used in the context of software development
But it can be used in the development of any well-structured digital project: e.g. collaborative reports, academic publications, etc.
Here’s how it works!
We start with the original version of the file. Each feature is colored differently.
Each user gets their own version.
They make their modifications. Each collaborator will work only on a previously agreed feature.
When Ana finishes, her work will update the existing old version of the file.
When Bob finishes his work, we update the existing file, leading us to the final version of the document.
Everything in one single file!
Which version control system?
- Version control systems
- Managers of remote repositories
Github
Gitlab
Bitbucket
SourceForge
Launchpad
Gitlab interface
Gitlab interface
Working with Git (locally and remotely)
How to Git?
Time to find out!
Initialize a repository
$ git init $ git remote add origin https://gitlab.com/mvgroup/tutorial_repo.git
Git workflow
$ git add . $ git commit -m "commit message" $ git push origin main
Checking the Git history
$ git log $ git log --oneline
Checking differences between version
$ git diff $ git diff filename $ git diff commit1 commit2
Undoing your last commit
$ git revert HEAD
Good practices for Git
Commit frequently and descriptively, then push accordingly
Forgot what you are doing? Check git status to display in which stage you are
Something unexpected? Check git log to revise the commit history
Lost track of the changes? git diff to compare changes
Don’t panic, you can always revert to previous commit when changes go wrong.
Be curious, Git is your friend to keep control!
git thank-you!
Version control with GitFundamentalsby: Marco and Valeria