Last Updated on March 3, 2024 by Asfa Rasheed
When you start writing a blog, a book, or a newsletter, you make many edits to it before the final draft is ready. And if you have to get it reviewed by someone, further changes are made to the document. But traditionally, would you be able to track what changes have been made to the document from the time it was created? Well, now it is possible to look back into all of the document versions and identify what changes people have made to it over time.
The availability of previous versions of a file and the ability to track the changes made are particularly beneficial for developers who design the source code for any software application. For a long time, a team of developers who work together to build software use the same code base. Changes made by anyone developer remain unknown to other developers which may result in issues cropping up later. This is where a centralized version control system (VCS) can help. A VCS enables organizations to avoid such code conflicts between the developers by allowing developers to track the changes made, fix any bugs, or revert any changes previously made.
One of the most widely used VCS is Git – a tool developed by the creator of the Linux Operating System. This article will let you know what Git is all about and how is it useful in DevOps. You’ll also understand why taking up Git foundation training is beneficial for your DevOps career.
Table of Contents
An Introduction to Git
Git is an open-source distributed version control system that is designed to handle everything from small projects to large projects with the desired speed and efficiency. Developers find Git easy to learn and are impressed with its features like cheap local branching, multiple workflows, and staging areas. This tool was developed by Linus Torvalds in 2005 with security, performance, and flexibility in mind. It is maintained actively, and several organizations rely on it for their software projects. Some of the top companies using Git include Google, Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, LinkedIn, and PostgreSQL.
Git’s user interface is quite similar to other version control systems but it thinks about information in a very different way. The other VCSs think of the information they save as a set of files and the changes made to them over time. On the other hand, Git thinks of the data like a series of snapshots of a miniature file system. Every time a developer saves the state of his project, Git takes a picture of what all the files look like at that moment and stores a reference to that snapshot.
Git as a DevOps Tool
Now that you have a clear idea of what Git is used for, you must know why it is an important tool of the DevOps methodology. You may know that DevOps refers to the cultural philosophies, practices, and tools that allow the IT development and operations teams to work together. Putting emphasis on Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment, the DevOps model enhances the ability of a company to deliver applications and services at a faster pace. This is how a DevOps lifecycle looks like:
Source
As the picture depicts, there is continuous development, continuous integration, continuous testing, continuous deployment, and continuous monitoring in the DevOps lifecycle. The first phase i.e., continuous development, involves the planning and coding of the software. This is where Git proves to be a useful DevOps tool. Git works as a source code management tool and packages the code into an executable file that the developers can forward to any of the next phases.
DevOps focuses on automating the software development processes that have traditionally been manual and slow. Git, which is a distributed version control system, allows all the developers to have a copy of all the versions of the source code on their local systems. They can update the local repositories with new data from the central server, and the principal repository reflects those changes. With such distributed non-linear workflows, Git allows effective communication between the development and the IT operations team.
Version control is one of the best practices involved in DevOps. In large organizations, projects usually incorporate multiple teams, and Git proves to be effective in tracking changes made by each team. This results in the effective management of the code and faster release cycles. The accessibility of Git repositories makes it easier for teams to collaborate, making error spotting faster and resulting in a more stable code.
Ready for Git Training?
If you are seriously considering a career in DevOps, then Git is a fundamental tool you should know. A lot of resources may be available online to help you learn Git, but we would suggest you enroll in a reliable online Git fundamentals course. You will not only gain access to pre-recorded videos but also gain instructor-led training. Such trainers are usually industry experts and are aware of the DevOps best practices. They help you gain those skills that employers actually look for.
As Git has become the standard tool for version control, many reputed training providers have started offering a Git foundations course. When you learn all the concepts from scratch, you will be comfortable working in an organization that follows DevOps practices. So, explore your options today and enter the demanding world of DevOps.
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