Introduction to Git and SVN
Writing and deploying code into production without version control poses the risk of breaking your website, leaving no option to roll back to a previous version. Version control has greatly simplified the workflow for many developers and software companies, providing the confidence to deploy thoroughly tested code into production.
In the WordPress ecosystem, the most commonly used version control systems are Git and SVN.
Git is a distributed version control system that enables groups of people to collaborate on the same code simultaneously, preventing them from accidentally overwriting each other’s changes.
Subversion, often abbreviated as SVN, is a centralized software versioning and revision control system that shares similarities with Git.
Difference between Git and SVN
When using Git, all your files are stored in a central repository, but you can have multiple local copies to work on. In contrast, when working with SVN, all your files are stored in the central repository exclusively, and you must commit your changes directly to it.
NOTE: GitHub offers a wide range of resources to help you get started with Git.
If you’re already familiar with working in Git, you might find that SVN operates a bit differently. However, this shouldn’t discourage you from learning how to use SVN, as it is commonly employed in the WordPress ecosystem for managing theme and plugin updates in the WordPress repository.
If Git is extremely new to you, you will find some of the best resources to have a good understanding of it in the references given at the end of the topic. You can refer to them to get started with Git.
Effective Git commit messages
Now that you have a fundamental understanding of what Git and SVN are, it’s crucial to know how to write effective commit messages. They play a pivotal role in software development. You can explore this topic further by referring to these resources:
Pushing changes to site via Git commits/branches
Once you have tested the changes you made in a staging environment, you can safely push the code changes into production by committing your changes to the appropriate Git branch. ➡️
Please refer to the pushing to remote support article by GitHub for more information on the same.