What is Source Code Management?
Source Code Management (SCM) is a set of processes and tools used to manage and track changes in the source code of software projects. It involves version control, which is the practice of tracking and managing changes to the source code, as well as other related practices like branching and merging.
SCM is crucial for software development projects for several reasons:
- Collaboration: Multiple developers often work on the same project. SCM helps them collaborate by managing and merging the changes made by different team members.
- History: SCM tools keep a record of all changes made to the source code, making it possible to review the history of the project, identify when a change was made, and by whom.
- Reverting: If a change introduces a bug or causes other problems, SCM tools make it possible to revert the code back to a previous, stable state.
- Branching and Merging: SCM tools allow developers to create separate branches to work on new features or bug fixes without affecting the main codebase. Once the work on a branch is complete, it can be merged back into the main branch.
- Conflict Resolution: When multiple developers work on the same part of the code, there is a risk of conflicts. SCM tools help in identifying and resolving these conflicts.
Common SCM tools include Git, Subversion, and Mercurial. These tools provide functionalities for version control, branching, merging, and other SCM practices.
Types of Source Code Management:
Source Code Management (SCM) systems can be broadly classified into two categories:
- Centralized Version Control Systems (CVCS): These systems use a central server to store all the files and histories of a project. Developers can check out the latest version or any previous version of the files from this central repository to their local machines. However, all the changes and new versions are recorded back in the central server. Examples of CVCS include:
- Subversion (SVN)
- Perforce
- Microsoft Team Foundation Server (TFS)
- Distributed Version Control Systems (DVCS): These systems do not rely on a central server to store all the files and histories. Instead, every user has a complete copy of the entire repository, including the history, on their local machine. This allows developers to work offline and makes the repository more resilient because there are multiple copies of the repository. Examples of DVCS include:
- Git
- Mercurial
- Bazaar
Git is currently the most popular SCM tool, used by many open-source projects and companies worldwide. It is a distributed version control system, which means that every developer has a complete copy of the entire repository on their local machine. Git allows multiple developers to work on the same project simultaneously, and it provides functionalities for branching, merging, and conflict resolution. This enables a collaborative and efficient development process.
What is Git ?
Git is a distributed version control system (DVCS) designed to track changes in the source code of software projects, enabling multiple developers to work collaboratively and simultaneously on the same project. It was created by Linus Torvalds, the creator of the Linux kernel, in 2005.
Key features of Git include:
- Distributed Version Control: Every developer has a complete copy of the entire repository, including the full history, on their local machine. This allows developers to work offline and makes the repository more resilient because there are multiple copies of it.
- Branching and Merging: Git makes it easy to create separate branches to work on new features or bug fixes without affecting the main codebase. Once the work on a branch is complete, it can be merged back into the main branch (often called ‘master’ or ‘main’).
- Speed: Git is designed to be fast and efficient, making it suitable for both small and large projects.
- Data Integrity: Git uses a cryptographic algorithm called SHA-1 to generate a checksum for each change (commit) in the repository. This ensures the integrity of the repository and allows Git to detect any changes or corruption in the repository data.
- Non-linear Development: Git supports non-linear development by allowing developers to create, merge, and delete branches as needed.
- Conflict Resolution: Git provides tools to resolve conflicts that occur when multiple developers work on the same part of the code.
- History and Auditability: Git keeps a complete history of all changes made to the repository, making it possible to review the history of the project, identify when a change was made, and by whom.
Git is widely used in the software development industry and is the preferred version control system for many open-source projects. It is supported by a variety of graphical user interface (GUI) tools and integrated development environments (IDEs), making it accessible to both beginners and experienced developers.
What is Github ?
GitHub is a web-based platform that uses Git for version control. It provides a place for developers to host and collaborate on their code repositories online. GitHub provides a variety of features that facilitate collaborative software development, including:
1. Repository Hosting: Users can create and host their Git repositories on GitHub. This makes it easy to share code with others and collaborate on projects.
2. Pull Requests: A key feature of GitHub is the ability to submit “pull requests.” A pull request is a way to propose changes to a repository. Other team members can review, discuss, and approve or reject the changes before they are merged into the main branch of the repository.
3. Issue Tracking: GitHub provides an issue tracking feature that allows users to report bugs, request features, and discuss other project-related topics. This helps to organize the development process and ensure that all team members are aware of the current status of the project.
4. Code Review: GitHub provides tools for code review, making it easy for team members to review and comment on each other’s code.
5. GitHub Actions: This is a feature that allows you to automate your software development workflows with actions that can be triggered by events in your repository. For example, you can set up an action to automatically build and test your code whenever a new commit is pushed to your repository.
6. Forking: Users can “fork” a repository, creating their own copy of it. This allows them to make changes to the code without affecting the original repository. If they want to contribute their changes back to the original repository, they can submit a pull request.
7. GitHub Pages: This feature allows users to host static websites directly from their GitHub repositories.
GitHub is widely used in the open-source community, and many popular open-source projects are hosted on GitHub. It provides a central place for developers to collaborate on projects, share code, and contribute to open-source software.
How to Create a Github Account ?
Creating a GitHub account is a straightforward process. Follow these steps to create a GitHub account:
1. Go to the GitHub Website: Open your web browser and go to the GitHub website at github.com.
2. Sign Up: On the GitHub homepage, click on the “Sign up” button.
3.Enter Your Details: On the next page, you will be asked to enter your desired username, email address, and password. Make sure to choose a strong password.
4. Verify Your Email: After entering your details, GitHub will send you a verification email. Go to your email inbox, find the email from GitHub, and click on the verification link to verify your email address.
5. Choose Your Plan: On the next page, you will be asked to choose a plan. If you are just getting started, you can choose the free plan, which includes unlimited public repositories. If you need private repositories or additional features, you may choose one of the paid plans.
6. Complete Setup: On the next page, you will be asked to complete your setup by answering a few questions about yourself and your intentions for using GitHub. You can skip this step if you prefer.
7. Read and Accept the Terms: Finally, you will be asked to read and accept the GitHub Terms of Service.
8. Finish: Click the “Finish sign up” button to complete the process.
After completing these steps, your GitHub account will be created, and you can start using GitHub to host and collaborate on code repositories.
Here is the Dashboard of Github account.
How to Create a Public Repository in Github ?
Creating a simple public repository on GitHub is quite straightforward. Here are the steps to create a public repository:
1. Login to GitHub: Make sure you are logged in to your GitHub account. If you don’t have a GitHub account, you will need to create one first.
2. Create a New Repository: Go to your GitHub profile, click on “Repositories,” and then click on the “New” button.
3. Configure Your Repository:
- Enter a name for your repository in the “Repository name” field.
- Add a description for your repository in the “Description” field (optional).
- Select the “Public” option to make your repository publicly accessible.
If you want to initialize your repository with a README file, a .gitignore file, or a license, you can select those options here. A README file is useful for providing information about your project, a .gitignore file can be used to specify files that should not be tracked by Git, and a license file is necessary if you want to specify the terms under which your project can be used by others.
4. Create Repository: Click on the “Create repository” button.
That’s it! Your public repository will be created. You can now clone the repository to your local machine, add files, make changes, and push them back to the repository on GitHub.
Here is Public Repository Dashboard,
How to push code to Github Repository?
To push code to a GitHub repository, follow these steps:
1. Create a GitHub Repository: If you haven’t already, create a new repository on GitHub. To do this, log in to your GitHub account, go to your profile, click on “Repositories,” and then click on “New.”
2. Initialize a Git Repository: Open a terminal or command prompt and navigate to the folder where your code is located. Then, run the following command to initialize a Git repository:
git init
3. Add Your Files: Add your files to the Git repository by running the following command:
git add .
This command adds all the files in your current directory to the Git repository. If you only want to add specific files, you can specify them by running git add <filename>.
4. Commit Your Changes: Commit your changes to the Git repository by running the following command:
git commit -m "my first commit"
Replace “Your commit message” with a message that describes the changes you made.
5. Add a Remote Repository: Add your GitHub repository as a remote repository by running the following command:
git remote add origin https://github.com/your-username/your-repository.git
Replace your-username with your GitHub username and your-repository with the name of your GitHub repository.
6. Push Your Code: Push your code to the GitHub repository by running the following command:
git push -u origin master
If you are working on a branch other than master, replace master with the name of your branch.
You will be asked to enter your GitHub username and password. If you have two-factor authentication enabled, you will need to create a personal access token and use that instead of your password.
After running these commands, your code will be pushed to your GitHub repository on GitHub. You can then go to your GitHub account and see your code in your repository.
