Version Control Systems / Git
Fundamentals
Why Git exists and how commits, blobs, and the four areas fit together.
A short history of Git
Git began in 2005 when the Linux kernel lost BitKeeper and needed a new distributed version control system fast. This overview follows Linus Torvalds' design goals, Junio Hamano's long stewardship, GitHub's rise, and the defaults and hash algorithms teams use today.
How Git works
Git tracks snapshots of your project as commits linked in a graph, not as a single linear tape of diffs. This page explains what version control is solving, the four areas where your files live during a command, and how blobs, trees, and commits fit together.