Now that we have acquired some familiarity with Git and versioning systems, it's time to look at the whole thing from a much higher perspective, to become aware of common patterns and procedures.
In this chapter, we will walk through some of the most common ways to organize and build meaningful commits and repositories, obtaining not only a well-organized code stack, but even a meaningful source of information.
While working with Git, committing seems the easiest part of the job: you add files, write a short comment, and then you're done. But it is just for its simplicity that often, especially at the very beginning of your experience, you acquire the bad habit of doing terrible commits: too late, too big, too short, or simply equipped with bad messages.
Now we will take some time to identify possible issues, like unmeaning or too large commits, drawing attention to tips and hints to get rid of those bad habits.
One of the harder skills to acquire while programming in general is to split the work into small and meaningful tasks.
Too often, I have experienced this scenario: you...
Now that we learnt how to perform good commits, it's time to fly higher and think of workflows. Git is a tool for versioning, but as with other powerful tools like knives, you can cut tasty sashimi or get hurt.
The thing that separates a great repository from a junkyard is the way you manage releases, the way you react when there is a bug to fix in particular version of your software, and the way you act when you have to make users able to beta-test incoming features.
These kinds of actions belong to ordinary administration for a modern software project, but too often I see teams out of breath because of the poor versioning workflows.
In this second part of the chapter, we will take a quick look at some of the most used workflows together with the Git versioning system.
In this chapter, we became aware of effective ways to use Git; I personally consider this chapter the most important for the new Git user, because it is only by applying some rules and discipline that you will obtain the most from this tool. So please pick up a good workflow (make your own, if necessary!), and pay attention to your commits: this is the only way to become a good versioning tool user, not only in Git.
In the next chapter, we will see some tips and tricks for using Git even if you have to deal with Subversion servers, and then we will take a quick look at migrating definitely from Subversion to Git.
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