Introduction to version control systems
Why do I need version control systems?
When working on projects, it is often necessary to roll back to previous steps or review changes made. These tasks become more complicated if several people are working on the same project, especially if they are located in different cities and countries. The traditional approach of creating archives or documents, for example, named with a special way "report_name_name_family_date_version_fix", has obvious disadvantages:
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files can be lost;
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files can be corrupted and cannot be recovered;
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viewing changes may be difficult or impossible;
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it is often necessary to store files without special labelling or other markings.
These problems make traditional versioning methods unreliable and inefficient, especially in team-based and geographically distributed environments. Thus, the need for version control systems becomes apparent to provide structured, secure and convenient management of file changes.
In modern team and project work, version control systems play a key role in various fields, including software development, project management, documentation writing, and scientific research.
What can version control systems do?
Any version control system will provide solutions to versioning problems through operations. Let’s look at Git as an example:
| Versioning problem | Solution | Operation | Operation description |
|---|---|---|---|
File loss |
Commit changes |
Creates a "cast" (commit) of the project state and assigns a unique identifier to it. |
|
Files are corrupted and cannot be restored |
Rollback to previous changes |
Restores an earlier state (not necessarily the previous one) from commits. |
|
Viewing changes is difficult or impossible |
Viewing changes via Git operations |
diff. |
Constructs a "difference" between different states of a project. |
Files must not contain special labels |
Each commit has a unique identifier (revision) |
Each commit has its own unique revision (40-character string), which allows referencing any specific commit. |
Regardless of the version control system chosen, the basic concepts remain common:
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Repository is a central repository for managing and tracking changes to files;
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Commit is a completed and saved change to a local repository on a particular branch. Commits serve as restore points to which you can revert (roll back changes) if necessary;
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A branch is an independent sequence of commits that forms a parallel version of the repository, allowing you to work in parallel from the main repository (branching).
Branches are used to implement the key features of version control systems - branching and merging:
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Branching allows you to create independent development lines where everyone can work on their own task without affecting the main branch. This provides change isolation and parallel development with the ability to merge changes later.
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Merge allows you to integrate changes into the main branch (repository) of the project. Merging preserves the integrity of the project by combining different branches into a single entity. This provides the ability to compare and review changes, as well as revert to previous versions.
| A distinction should be made between a version control system and a means of working with it. For example, Engee integrates the Git version control system, and the portal git.engee.com is an Internet application for working with this system. |
Why does Engee use the Git version control system?
Engee uses Git, the most popular version control system under the GNU General Public License version 2.0. Git works with any file, but you may need external tools to merge or view changes correctly (see official Git site for more information).
Engee uses Git because of the following advantages:
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By decentralising the repository, users work with their local copies of the project, which reduces the risk of introducing bugs into the main repository. Even if a major bug is introduced in the main branch, all changes can be rolled back to the correct state.
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Git is easy to learn, has a huge community of developers and users, and provides high reliability and data integrity.
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Git provides many options for customisation and integration with various tools and services, such as Git Engee.
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Git uses a hashing mechanism (SHA-1) to store all data and metadata using revisions, which allows you to reference any particular commit in any context, whether when working with change history, creating branches, or merging them.
Thus, using Git in Engee is an indispensable practice for working on any project.