What is Git and why Git?

Git is a version control program that was initially designed and developed by Linus Torvalds for Linux kernel development; it has since been adopted by many other projects. Git was originally intended for use when many developers collaborate on a single project, but it is also useful for a single user to help keep track of the history of code development (with the possibility of reverting to older versions), and it is easy to keep work in sync on multiple computers.

Git uses a distributed, or peer-to-peer (P2P), version control model that differs from the server-client model (used by e.g., CVS, Subversion). This model may be favoured since there is no central repository on a server that needs to be maintained. Recently, git has gained popularity due to the success of GitHub for sharing open-source code repositories on the web with git.

To learn more, see the other pages about Git on FluidsWiki.