Version Control

Systems
29/09/2016

DLR-IDL
2023-2024
Work under Creative Commons BY-SA1 license 2/1

You are free:

§ to use, to copy, to distribute and to transmit this creation to the public;
§ to adapt this work.
Under the following terms:
§ Attribution (BY): you must attribute the work in the manner specified by
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1
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/.
Important notes 3/1

§ if you do not understand something, please ask your

questions. We cannot answer the questions you do not ask. . .
§ if you disagree with us, please say it (we follow Crocker’s
rules2 )
§ people don’t learn computer science by only reading few
academic slides: practicing is fundamental

2
http://sl4.org/crocker.html
Sentences one would have preferred not to hear 4/1

§ Aaaaah! Three months of work lost!

§ Oops. . . Was this file really important?
§ Great, everyone has finished! Who integrates all the parts?
§ Why did I wrote this piece of code?
§ Great functionality, but I think the last week version was better.
Uh. . . which one?
§ I cannot find the version we have made 6 years ago for
BigCustomer Inc., I need it immediately for a new contract!
§ I have already done this bugfix. . . on my laptop I left at home.
§ It doesn’t work anymore! Who messed up my code?
Motivations 5/1

§ Software traceability: tracking and documenting changes,

retrieving former versions
§ Flexibility: feature trials, quick rollbacks
§ Parallelism and team work: multi-sites, multi-computers,
multi-developers and multi-activities
§ Safety: “backup”3 with history
ñ One needs tools to solve these problems

3
VCS are not (space) efficient backup systems
Version Control Systems (VCS) 6/1

§ Used for
§ storing files
§ keeping track of changes on those tracked files
§ sharing
§ Each collaborator works on a local copy
§ Synchronization with one (or several) remote server(s)
§ 2 families of VCS
§ centralised (Subversion, CVS, . . . )
§ distributed (Git, Mercurial, Darcs, . . . )
Architecture of a centralised VCS 7/1

WORKING
COPY
synchro
workspace #1

synchro
WORKING CENTRAL
COPY REPOSITORY

workspace #2

synchro
WORKING
COPY

workspace #3
Architecture of a distributed VCS 8/1

REPOSITORY synchro

synchro REPOSITORY

WORKING
COPY synchro synchro
workspace #1

REPOSITORY REPOSITORY

synchro synchro

WORKING WORKING
COPY COPY

workspace #2 workspace #3
Focus on a specific VCS: Git 9/1
Why Git?
§ very popular
§ many platforms provide services built on Git (Bitbucket, Gitlab,
GitHub)
§ a bit less intuitive than other VCS for beginners, therefore if
you are able to use Git, you will be able to use other VCS
§ . . . and because we had to choose a tool
Git architecture and vocabulary 10 / 1

REMOTE
REPOSITORY

Workspace
Gitspace

WORKING STAGING CURRENT LOCAL

DIRECTORY AREA VERSION REPOSITORY

§ working directory = files where changes are made

§ staging area = current selected changes
§ current version = current reference version
§ (remote/local) repository = a database of changes
Diving into Git core 11 / 1

Repository

Repository
Diving into Git core 11 / 1

Repository

CV = current version

CV
Repository
Diving into Git core 11 / 1

Repository

WD = working directory

WD CV
Repository

.tex

.pdf

.java

.ml
Diving into Git core 11 / 1

Repository

WD CV
Repository

.tex

.pdf

‰
.java

.txt

.ml
Diving into Git core 11 / 1

Repository

SA = staging area SA
add

rm

WD CV
Repository

.tex

.pdf

‰
.java

.txt

.ml
Diving into Git core 11 / 1

Repository

SA
add

rm

WD CV
Repository

.tex

.pdf

.java

.txt
Diving into Git core 11 / 1

Repository
index
SA
.git

File system HEAD

WD CV
Repository
objects/, refs/
.tex

.pdf
config
.java
config

.txt
Diving into Git core 11 / 1

Repository
index
SA
commit .git
add/rm

push
File system HEAD
WD CV fetch/
Repository clone/
objects/, refs/ pull
.tex

.pdf
config
.java
config

.txt

checkout/merge
Structure of a versioned project with Git 12 / 1
jcbach@minitel2>dlr-idl$ls -la
drwxr-xr-x 17 jcbach jcbach 4096 Sep 18 09:07 .
drwxr-xr-x 212 jcbach jcbach 12288 Aug 31 17:11 ..
drwxr-xr-x 7 jcbach jcbach 4096 Sep 18 10:43 .git
-rw-r--r-- 1 jcbach jcbach 132 Jun 3 2020 .gitignore
-rw-r--r-- 1 jcbach jcbach 200 Jan 16 2019 .project
-rw-r--r-- 1 jcbach jcbach 308 Mar 11 2019 Makefile.recur
-rw-r--r-- 1 jcbach jcbach 832 Mar 11 2019 Makefile.rules
-rw-r--r-- 1 jcbach jcbach 3936 Sep 9 2020 README
drwxr-xr-x 4 jcbach jcbach 4096 Sep 18 10:48 adm
drwxr-xr-x 2 jcbach jcbach 4096 Oct 14 2019 agile
drwxr-xr-x 6 jcbach jcbach 4096 Nov 14 2022 build
drwxr-xr-x 3 jcbach jcbach 4096 Oct 18 2022 ci
-rw-r--r-- 1 jcbach jcbach 1496 Jan 23 2019 custom.sty
-rw-r--r-- 1 jcbach users 17 Aug 23 15:52 date.tex
drwxr-xr-x 12 jcbach jcbach 4096 Sep 30 2022 devenv
drwxr-xr-x 3 jcbach jcbach 4096 Aug 11 2020 exam
drwxr-xr-x 3 jcbach jcbach 4096 Sep 18 10:31 introduction
drwxr-xr-x 2 jcbach jcbach 4096 Sep 5 15:30 licence
drwxr-xr-x 2 jcbach jcbach 4096 Sep 26 2019 notes
drwxr-xr-x 2 jcbach jcbach 4096 Oct 24 2018 poly
drwxr-xr-x 2 jcbach jcbach 4096 Sep 10 2020 presentation
drwxr-xr-x 4 jcbach jcbach 4096 Sep 18 10:46 projet
-rw-r--r-- 1 jcbach jcbach 618 Nov 7 2018 ref.bib
drwxr-xr-x 5 jcbach jcbach 4096 Oct 18 2022 test
.git structure 13 / 1
jcbach@minitel2>.git$ls -la
drwxr-xr-x 7 jcbach jcbach 4096 Sep 18 10:43 .
drwxr-xr-x 17 jcbach jcbach 4096 Sep 18 09:07 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 jcbach jcbach 20 Sep 18 10:43 COMMIT_EDITMSG
-rw-r--r-- 1 jcbach jcbach 109 Jan 18 2023 FETCH_HEAD
-rw-r--r-- 1 jcbach jcbach 23 Aug 9 2019 HEAD
-rw-r--r-- 1 jcbach users 41 Jan 18 2023 ORIG_HEAD
-rw-r--r-- 1 jcbach jcbach 370 Aug 9 2019 config
-rw-r--r-- 1 jcbach jcbach 73 Oct 23 2018 description
-rw-r--r-- 1 jcbach jcbach 17989 Nov 29 2019 gitk.cache
drwxr-xr-x 2 jcbach jcbach 4096 Oct 23 2018 hooks
-rw-r--r-- 1 jcbach users 35901 Sep 18 10:43 index
drwxr-xr-x 2 jcbach jcbach 4096 Oct 23 2018 info
drwxr-xr-x 3 jcbach jcbach 4096 Oct 24 2018 logs
drwxr-xr-x 260 jcbach jcbach 4096 Sep 18 10:43 objects
drwxr-xr-x 5 jcbach jcbach 4096 Mar 12 2019 refs
jcbach@minitel2#10:54:19>.git$
Git by the example 14 / 1

§ Practical use cases in order to learn few commands

§ setting up a new repository (init, remote url)
§ retrieving a repository (clone)
§ making changes in the working repository (status)
§ updating the remote environment (add, commit, push)
§ checking differences after changes (diff)
§ updating dev environment (fetch, pull)
§ diverging/branching (branch, merge, checkout)
§ ...
§ Non-exhaustive use cases
§ Workflows
Retrieving a repository 15 / 1

git clone <url>

git checkout <ref> git clone -n <url>

change change

WORKING STAGING CURRENT LOCAL REMOTE

DIRECTORY AREA VERSION REPOSITORY REPOSITORY

$> git clone -n <url>

only creates the .git directory
$> git checkout <ref>
retrieves files from local repository into the working directory
$> git clone <url>
creates the .git directory and retrieves files into the working
directory; clone = clone -n + checkout
Making changes in the working directory 16 / 1

tracked

WORKING STAGING CURRENT LOCAL

DIRECTORY AREA VERSION REPOSITORY

untracked

Checking the current state

$> git status
On branch main
Your branch is up to date with 'origin/main'.
Changes not staged for commit:
(use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
(use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
modified: file1
...
Untracked files:
(use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
file4
...
no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a")
Updating the remote environment 17 / 1

git add git commit git push

change

WORKING STAGING CURRENT LOCAL REMOTE

DIRECTORY AREA VERSION REPOSITORY REPOSITORY

Example
$> git add file1 file2 file3 ...
add in the index of the staging area
$> git commit -m “add my super new feature”
...
$> git push
push into the remote repository
Checking differences after changes 18 / 1

WORKING STAGING CURRENT LOCAL

DIRECTORY AREA VERSION REPOSITORY
modified staged commited

Diff commands
$> git diff
$> git diff --staged
$> man git-diff will help you
Updating dev environment (fetch) 19 / 1

git fetch

WORKING STAGING CURRENT LOCAL REMOTE

DIRECTORY AREA VERSION REPOSITORY REPOSITORY

$> git fetch

§ retrieves updates from the remote repository
§ is safe
§ does not affect working directory ñ cannot lose uncommited
changes,
§ no automated merge
Updating dev environment (pull) 20 / 1

git pull

2. merge 1. fetch

WORKING STAGING CURRENT LOCAL REMOTE

DIRECTORY AREA VERSION REPOSITORY REPOSITORY

$> git pull

retrieves updates from the remote repository and merge them
with the working directory

§ git merge: to be seen few slides later

Diverging: vocabulary 21 / 1

§ a branch = a reference to a version

§ can be seen as a “local checkpoint” (another says like a bookmark)
§ branching
§ creating a named reference to a version
§ the common way to work without messing with the main line
Diverging (branch) 22 / 1

git branch [-a]

git branch <ref>
git branch -d

WORKING STAGING CURRENT LOCAL

DIRECTORY AREA VERSION REPOSITORY

$> git branch

list local branches
$> git branch -a
list all (local and remote) branches
$> git branch <ref>
creates a named branch from the current branch
$> git branch -d <ref>
deletes a named branch
Diverging (checkout) 23 / 1

git checkout [-b] <ref>

change

WORKING STAGING CURRENT LOCAL

DIRECTORY AREA VERSION REPOSITORY

$> git checkout <ref>

changes the current branch
$> git checkout -b <ref>
creates a branch from the current branch and changes to it
(“ git branch ` git checkout)
Diverging (merge) 24 / 1

§ starting point: 2 branches (main + newawesomefeature), HEAD

points to main
$> git merge newawesomefeature
integrate changes from newawesomefeature branch into main
§ two situations
§ no conflict: changes from newawesomefeature are integrated in
the main (local) line, time to push. . .
§ conflicts: resolution needed in order to be able to push
§ conflict resolution:
1. fix the conflicts (edit the files, keep/remove stuff)
2. add the changes
3. commit
Diverging by the example 25 / 1

HEAD

v0.1 main

A B C

Initial situation
Diverging by the example 25 / 1

HEAD

v0.1 main

A B C

testing

$> git branch testing

Diverging by the example 25 / 1

v0.1 main

A B C

testing

HEAD

$> git checkout testing

Diverging by the example 25 / 1

HEAD

v0.1 main testing

A B C D

One commit later

Diverging by the example 25 / 1

HEAD

v0.1 main testing

A B C D

$> git checkout main

Diverging by the example 25 / 1

v0.1 main testing

A B C D

hotfix

HEAD

$> git checkout -b hotfix

Diverging by the example 25 / 1

v0.1 main testing

A B C D

hotfix

HEAD

One commit later

Diverging by the example 25 / 1

HEAD

v0.1 main testing

A B C D

hotfix

$> git checkout main

Diverging by the example 25 / 1

v0.1 testing

A B C D

hotfix

main

$> git merge hotfix HEAD

Diverging by the example 25 / 1

v0.1 testing

A B C D

main

HEAD

$> git branch -d hotfix

Diverging by the example 25 / 1

HEAD

v0.1 testing

A B C D

main

$> git checkout testing

Diverging by the example 25 / 1

HEAD

v0.1 testing

A B C D F

main

One commit later

Diverging by the example 25 / 1

v0.1 testing

A B C D F

main

HEAD

$> git checkout main

Diverging by the example 25 / 1

HEAD

v0.1 testing main

A B C D F G

$> git merge testing

Summary of a typical Git workflow 26 / 1

WORKING REMOTE
DIRECTORY REPOSITORY

STAGING LOCAL
git clone
AREA REPOSITORY

git add/rm

git commit

git fetch/pull˚

git checkout/branch/merge

git push
Adopting a workflow 27 / 1

§ one tool, many usages

§ tools alone do not solve development problems
§ need of a process that fits the team
§ many possible Git workflows (examples later)
§ centralised workflow
§ feature branch workflow
§ gitflow workflow
§ forking workflow
§ ...
Centralised workflow 28 / 1

§ one central repository, one branch (main)

§ common when coming from centralised systems like
Subversion
§ common for small size teams
§ easy to understand for a newcomer

Source: Atlassian
Feature branch workflow 29 / 1

§ central repository + main branch = official project history

§ one branch per feature: no direct commit on the main branch
§ feature branches are pushed to the central repository
§ branches are then merged (after pull requests, feedbacks,
conflict resolutions)
HEAD

v1 v1.1 main

A B E F I

C D G H

feature1 feature2
Gitflow workflow4 30 / 1
§ strict branching model designed around the project release
§ well-suited for large projects with deadlines (releases)
§ one branch one role, workflow defines their interactions
§ can be combined with feature branch workflow
§ project history = main (the releases) + development branch

Source: Atlassian
4
A famous example:
https://nvie.com/posts/a-successful-git-branching-model/
Forking workflow 31 / 1

§ one serverside repository per developer

§ each developer manages her repository and make pull
requests to the reference repository
§ typical model when contributing to a FLOSS5 project hosted on
GitHub: “Fork us on GitHub”

Source: Atlassian

5
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/floss-and-foss.en.html
Workflows: summary 32 / 1

§ chosen workflow depends on the team’s concerns and

organisation
§ no one-size-fits-all Git workflow
§ feature workflow: business domain oriented
§ forking and gitflow workflows: repository oriented
§ what is a good workflow?
§ enhance or limit team efficiency?
§ scale with team size?
§ easy to undo mistakes and errors?
§ impose any new unnecessary cognitive overhead to the team?
§ does it limit conflicts?
VCS pratices 33 / 1

§ Git
§ useful and powerful tool
§ . . . but a tool alone does not solve all problems. It can also create
ones
ñ developers do not only need tools, but also working processes

§ Good practices
§ formalizing the process/workflow
§ coordinating with co-workers
§ testing before sending changes
§ updating before sending a change
§ commiting meaningful changes
§ commiting often
§ adding meaningful messages for commits
§ not commiting generated files
§ short-lived branches
VCS in practice: how to start? 34 / 1

§ By practicing
§ during the next lab session: there are a lot of small exercises to
discover most important Git commands
§ during every lab sessions, even in non-CS context
§ at home

§ One usually needs a server to host repositories6

§ Some questions to ask before chosing
§ do you want to make your project public?
§ is there any security, privacy or IP problems with the project?
§ is your project a cornerstone of your business?
§ Your answers should drive your choices of VCS hosting
§ simple and free non-professional account on an open platform
§ paid service on a platform
§ installation of your own VCS server
6
. . . but it is not mandatory: you can use Git in serverless mode! See later
VCS in practice: which platform to start with? 35 / 1

§ IMTA infrastructure for academic projects and for learning:

§ Gitlab: https://gitlab-df.imt-atlantique.fr/7 8
§ Redmine: https://redmine-df.telecom-bretagne.eu/
(+Subversion)
§ Many platforms can be used without any fee:
§ Gitlab: https://about.gitlab.com/
§ GitHub: https://github.com/
§ Gitea: https://gitea.com
§ Bitbucket: https://bitbucket.org/
§ Assembla: https://www.assembla.com/ (+Subversion)
§ Sourcehut: https://sourcehut.org/
§ . . . and probably many other
§ . . . but you can also install your own server!
7
prefer it rather than redmine-df which will probably die in a near future
8
VPN is required to access the service from outside, cf. https:
//intranet.imt-atlantique.fr/catalogue-disi/eduvpn-etudiant-3/
Serverless mode: a simple way to start with Git 36 / 1

§ Git can also be used without any other host

1. $> mkdir mycode
2. $> cd mycode
3. $> git init
initialize a new Git repository
§ that type of Git repository can be shared
§ as every folder (copy/paste on an USB key, . . . )
§ or using a Git command to add a remote repository (it has to exist)
$> git remote add <name> <url>
Git integration 37 / 1

§ If you use a mainstream IDE, Git is probably already integrated

§ Eclipse: Window > Perspective > Open Perspective > Other > Git
§ vscode
§ Ctrl+Shift+G
§ nice and useful plugins: Git graph and GitLens
§ IntelliJ: Alt+‘
§ well-configured Vim or Emacs: you don’t need any help
§ maybe a TUI: tig, lazygit
Conclusion 38 / 1

§ basic principles of VCS

§ basic principles
§ two main families: centralised vs decentralised
§ tools diversity
§ some good practices for VCS usage
§ importance of a workflow
§ should be simple
§ should enhance the team productivity
§ should be oriented by business requirements
§ VCS usage should be an habit, not a constraint
§ basics for a specific (but probably the most common) VCS: Git
§ discover Git in the practical work!
Resources 39 / 1

§ VCS
§ https://homes.cs.washington.edu/~mernst/advice/version-control.html
§ https://betterexplained.com/articles/a-visual-guide-to-version-control/
§ https://betterexplained.com/articles/
intro-to-distributed-version-control-illustrated/
§ Git
§ https://git-scm.com/
§ https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/ (Pro Git book)
§ http://justinhileman.info/article/git-pretty/
§ https://betterexplained.com/articles/aha-moments-when-learning-git/
§ https://rachelcarmena.github.io/2018/12/12/how-to-teach-git.html
§ Subversion: http://svnbook.red-bean.com/
§ Mercurial: https://www.mercurial-scm.org/
Gentle reminder 40 / 1
N Important notes
§ if you do not understand something, please ask your
questions. We cannot answer the questions you do not ask. . .
§ if you disagree with us, please say it (we follow Crocker’s
rules9 )
§ people don’t learn computer science by only reading few
academic slides: practicing is fundamental

9
http://sl4.org/crocker.html