Version Control & Collaboration

'repo' for short

A project's home: all its code, files and complete change history kept together in one place.

Version-control system

The most widely used tool for tracking every change to code and letting a team work on it without overwriting each other.

Code-hosting platform

The most popular website for storing Git repositories online and collaborating on them. GitLab, Bitbucket and Azure DevOps are the main alternatives.

A saved change

A snapshot of your changes with a short message describing them. The basic unit of progress in Git.

A parallel line of work

A separate copy of the code where you can build a feature or fix without disturbing the main version.

Combining branches

Bringing the changes from one branch into another.

Also Merge Request (MR)

A proposal to merge your branch, opened so others can review and approve the changes before they join the main code.

Copy a repo locally

Making a local copy of an online repository onto your own machine so you can work on it.

Your own copy of a repo

A personal copy of someone else's repository, so you can experiment or contribute changes back.

Sync with the shared repo

Push sends your local commits up to the shared repository; pull brings other people's changes down to you.

The primary branch

The branch holding the definitive, current version of the code. 'main' is the default name on new projects, having replaced 'master' from 2020 onwards as an inclusive-language change, so older repositories may still use 'master'.

The difference

A line-by-line comparison showing exactly what changed between two versions of a file.

Version-control event

When Git cannot automatically combine competing edits to the same part of a file, so a person must choose the correct result.

Git history operation

Replays a set of commits on top of a newer starting point, producing a cleaner history but changing commit identities.

Named Git reference

A permanent label attached to a specific commit, commonly used to mark a released version such as v2.1.0.

MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH versioning

A version-number convention where major means breaking change, minor means compatible new functionality, and patch means compatible bug fix.