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Broad usage of Git.
What is Git?
Git is an ancient tool (in today's standards) that was released in 2005 by a handsome guy Linus Torvalds. It is used for collaboration work and keeping files history. Works best with text files, allowing you to see exact changes you (or someone else) did to a file. One iteration of changes is called a "commit". When you create a commit, git tracks all changes that you inclided in the commit. This allows a magic to happen: you can combine your work with someone else's work, even if you worked on them simultaniously. Without zipping files around! For more detailed info about Git you can read my dedicated post about it here
What can we do with it?
Even tho Git's main use case is software development collaboration, it can be used for its great powers outside of IT. You can use it, basically, to store text files. As a bonus you get changes history and synchronization between devices. Combined with Git hosting you also get public sharing and Markdown rendering - nice! This is what you experience right now: you read my blog on a hosted git service, which renders this Markdown file for you into a beautiful HTML.
Sharing your blog...
This is super easy! You just write Markdown in your favourite text editor, commit and send it! Nothing really more to say about this. Markdown is great. I probably enjoy writing it more than TeX.
Synchronizing your configuration.
This is super handy. You can synchronize specific files (configuration) across different devices. I have such repo public here. It allows me to track changes and synchronize specific files, like configs for Bash, Nvim, Tmux, Gnome shell etc. This way I have a consistent environment across all my GNU-powered devices. Also, if you are a good commiter and commit only small changes, like "did X", "updated X", then you can discard them at any time! I was hesitating a lot whether I want vi-mode for Bash or not. To "undo" vi-mode all I needed to do was to discard that specific commit that enabled it. Neat!
Creating a knowledge base (wiki).
This is another example that I use myself, you can check out my wiki here. Simple: you get sharing, history and markdown rendering. All the basics required for this task. I used to use Joplin for my knowledge base, but one day realized how awesome Git really is.
To-do.
- Write about the main git usage and link here.