WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:10.113 --> 00:00:15.303 Hey folks, and welcome to the Small Tech Podcast from Éphémère Creative. 00:00:15.333 --> 00:00:21.513 I'm your host Raph and today we are going to be talking about version control. 00:00:22.213 --> 00:00:24.913 So the first episode was very scripted. 00:00:24.943 --> 00:00:28.423 The second episode was a little bit scripted. 00:00:28.423 --> 00:00:33.613 I had some notes and stuff, but this episode, I just haven't had the time 00:00:33.673 --> 00:00:35.953 to put a lot of thought into it. 00:00:36.433 --> 00:00:40.303 Um, but I figured this is something that, uh, this is something that I 00:00:40.303 --> 00:00:45.463 know this is something that I deal with on a regular basis and have explored 00:00:45.463 --> 00:00:48.043 various options over the years. 00:00:48.433 --> 00:00:54.643 So maybe this is a good candidate for something to sort of wing it on. 00:00:55.093 --> 00:01:01.783 Um, and I would love to hear what you all have to say about this subject. 00:01:01.963 --> 00:01:03.673 Um, so version control. 00:01:04.513 --> 00:01:10.033 I remember the first time I dealt with any kind of version control was back in. 00:01:10.753 --> 00:01:16.063 2011, I think was a project that was using subversion. 00:01:16.483 --> 00:01:21.753 This was, my first time really working on any kind of web project. 00:01:21.753 --> 00:01:25.413 And I wasn't allowed anywhere near the repo, but there was a... 00:01:25.803 --> 00:01:31.293 I was allowed to access some code at some point and not contribute, 00:01:31.293 --> 00:01:33.183 but I could poke around at it. 00:01:33.993 --> 00:01:34.683 So. 00:01:35.643 --> 00:01:36.573 Since then. 00:01:36.783 --> 00:01:38.133 A lot of things have changed. 00:01:38.943 --> 00:01:41.473 And there used to be Mercurial. 00:01:41.473 --> 00:01:42.223 What was the other one? 00:01:42.223 --> 00:01:46.513 Like Tortoise SVN, some other stuff like that in the meantime, 00:01:46.823 --> 00:01:48.013 git took over the world. 00:01:48.403 --> 00:01:52.903 And for people who are more new to, technology and development, 00:01:53.233 --> 00:01:55.743 you might have heard of GitHub. 00:01:56.443 --> 00:02:00.703 But a lot of people make the mistake when they first get into this field 00:02:01.033 --> 00:02:06.763 of a conflating GitHub with git, git is the actual system you can 00:02:06.763 --> 00:02:09.283 think of it kind of like a protocol. 00:02:09.713 --> 00:02:15.783 It's the tool that we use to, to manage version control, uh, for code. 00:02:16.473 --> 00:02:16.713 Yeah. 00:02:16.743 --> 00:02:17.943 So you might've heard of GitHub. 00:02:18.513 --> 00:02:22.653 That is a system that uses get, but there are plenty of others. 00:02:23.043 --> 00:02:28.053 And in the context of building tech in a small company. 00:02:28.623 --> 00:02:30.363 Or a small organization. 00:02:30.993 --> 00:02:34.683 There are a lot of different options actually, and GitHub might not be the 00:02:34.683 --> 00:02:36.393 one that makes the most sense for you. 00:02:36.633 --> 00:02:40.983 Let's back up a second, And talk a little bit about what git is and 00:02:40.983 --> 00:02:44.823 why you might use it and why you use version control more generally. 00:02:45.063 --> 00:02:49.213 So version control systems, like subversion, git, 00:02:49.233 --> 00:02:50.793 mercurial and these other ones. 00:02:51.103 --> 00:02:57.683 Allow you to commit changes to your code, and so as you're working, you'll 00:02:57.683 --> 00:03:01.823 say, yep, this is ready to go and so I'm going to commit the changes to 00:03:01.823 --> 00:03:03.923 all of these files and say, this is a. 00:03:04.193 --> 00:03:08.123 Uh, step in this, uh, in this project, in the right direction. 00:03:08.423 --> 00:03:10.253 And you can do, what's called branching. 00:03:10.283 --> 00:03:12.473 So you'll create a branch to work on a feature. 00:03:12.743 --> 00:03:17.063 And if stuff doesn't work out, you can revert back to the other 00:03:17.063 --> 00:03:18.893 branch that you sourced it from. 00:03:19.103 --> 00:03:24.233 And so you can just ignore all of the work that you did and sort of rewind 00:03:24.233 --> 00:03:27.653 back to the point that you branch from and you can merge branches. 00:03:27.683 --> 00:03:28.973 And so these systems. 00:03:29.603 --> 00:03:35.903 Allow you through this sort of merging and, uh, splitting and committing. 00:03:36.293 --> 00:03:40.193 The allow you to work collaboratively with people because the software can 00:03:40.193 --> 00:03:44.333 track who made, what changes when and help you merge them all together. 00:03:44.333 --> 00:03:47.603 So you might all be working on the same file and running this 00:03:47.603 --> 00:03:49.313 software on separate machines. 00:03:49.843 --> 00:03:53.223 And when you say, yep, this is ready to go you... 00:03:53.283 --> 00:03:53.703 with... 00:03:53.733 --> 00:03:59.713 in GitHubs parlance, you will submit a PR a pull request in GitLab. 00:03:59.793 --> 00:04:01.713 They call it a Merge Request. 00:04:02.233 --> 00:04:05.683 But one way or another, what, what that saying is, Hey, can someone look at my 00:04:05.683 --> 00:04:11.593 code and look at the differences between the sort of production branch, if you 00:04:11.593 --> 00:04:13.783 want to call it that though there's... 00:04:14.413 --> 00:04:18.163 you can go into how, how you want to deal with branches and 00:04:18.163 --> 00:04:20.023 what's production or whatever. 00:04:20.443 --> 00:04:23.923 But you're basically asking someone, "Hey, can you check if this is ready?" 00:04:24.013 --> 00:04:25.033 I want to merge it back. 00:04:25.303 --> 00:04:26.143 And the system. 00:04:26.843 --> 00:04:28.493 Often not always. 00:04:28.733 --> 00:04:31.223 We'll be able to take care of that for you. 00:04:31.283 --> 00:04:32.393 And so you can say, yep. 00:04:32.423 --> 00:04:36.203 I've looked at all of the differences and I think this is good to go. 00:04:36.203 --> 00:04:37.553 Let's merge it back. 00:04:38.393 --> 00:04:42.913 And it will figure out, based off of the timing of the different commits, if 00:04:42.913 --> 00:04:47.773 anyone else has made any commits, in the meantime how they should come together. 00:04:48.013 --> 00:04:49.993 In some cases that's not possible. 00:04:50.053 --> 00:04:57.163 And then we get merged conflicts and that, uh, is something that someone somewhere 00:04:57.163 --> 00:04:59.473 on the team is going to have to deal with. 00:04:59.943 --> 00:05:04.923 There's different ways of dealing with it, from an operational perspective, 00:05:04.923 --> 00:05:06.813 from a technological perspective. 00:05:07.263 --> 00:05:09.033 But yeah, that's, that's there. 00:05:09.213 --> 00:05:10.113 The crux of it. 00:05:10.293 --> 00:05:11.283 So essentially. 00:05:12.123 --> 00:05:17.253 Version control systems allow you to work collaboratively and independently. 00:05:17.553 --> 00:05:20.793 And bring your work back together into one cohesive product. 00:05:21.493 --> 00:05:26.963 And platforms like GitHub have made it really easy to do 00:05:26.963 --> 00:05:28.973 that in the open source world. 00:05:29.063 --> 00:05:34.313 And so you'll know, GitHub primarily because most open source projects. 00:05:35.123 --> 00:05:37.273 Host their stuff on GitHub. 00:05:37.373 --> 00:05:38.393 Their code is there. 00:05:38.723 --> 00:05:40.463 Uh, for the world to see. 00:05:41.153 --> 00:05:43.343 But there's also private repositories on. 00:05:44.303 --> 00:05:51.903 And so organizations, uh, companies, uh, individuals will host their code on GitHub 00:05:51.923 --> 00:05:55.853 as well, uh, in private repositories that they don't want the world to see. 00:05:55.913 --> 00:05:58.823 Now, this is something that actually only was made possible in the 00:05:58.853 --> 00:06:02.063 last few years on a free tier. 00:06:02.093 --> 00:06:04.973 It used to be that if you wanted to use GitHub for private 00:06:04.973 --> 00:06:06.893 projects, you had to pay. 00:06:07.613 --> 00:06:12.293 And so that's actually why I initially started using other tools. 00:06:12.563 --> 00:06:18.623 For example, two of the other big ones are Bitbucket, which is by Atlassian. 00:06:18.923 --> 00:06:19.953 And GitLab 00:06:20.193 --> 00:06:24.123 . For those who don't know also GitHub is owned by Microsoft. 00:06:24.153 --> 00:06:27.123 They acquired them for many billions of dollars a few years ago. 00:06:28.113 --> 00:06:31.863 So why might you choose one over the other? 00:06:32.763 --> 00:06:38.613 I initially started using Bitbucket because it had free private repos. 00:06:39.183 --> 00:06:40.413 I think this was. 00:06:40.923 --> 00:06:43.833 At a time where GitLab wasn't really well known. 00:06:43.833 --> 00:06:47.613 I think I started using them in 2014 or something like that. 00:06:47.823 --> 00:06:49.353 GitLab may not even have existed. 00:06:49.383 --> 00:06:51.993 I don't know what the timeline is there. 00:06:52.283 --> 00:06:55.973 But Bitbucket was available and it was free. 00:06:56.663 --> 00:06:58.403 Uh, for private repositories. 00:06:58.433 --> 00:07:02.753 So you could use it for your company and on top of it, all it integrated really 00:07:02.753 --> 00:07:05.423 well with Atlassian's other projects. 00:07:05.483 --> 00:07:08.513 You might remember our little discussion last week. 00:07:08.933 --> 00:07:11.613 About Atlassia n JIRA. 00:07:12.033 --> 00:07:14.673 Product, which is their project management tool. 00:07:15.303 --> 00:07:17.943 So Bitbucket integrates nicely with JIRA. 00:07:18.303 --> 00:07:20.733 So I was using Bitbucket at the time. 00:07:20.733 --> 00:07:21.793 Also used JIRA. 00:07:22.473 --> 00:07:28.763 Uh, since then, I had a friend, point out to me that there's this 00:07:28.763 --> 00:07:32.903 fantastic new platform called GitLab. 00:07:33.743 --> 00:07:37.643 And he explained that he liked it a lot because it was open source. 00:07:38.003 --> 00:07:41.453 Uh, so you can run it yourself on your own servers using just 00:07:41.453 --> 00:07:42.743 their open source version. 00:07:43.433 --> 00:07:46.013 Or you can use their hosted version. 00:07:46.403 --> 00:07:47.763 Uh, GitLab.com. 00:07:48.413 --> 00:07:53.333 And one of the things that was neat about GitLab is that it integrated. 00:07:53.433 --> 00:07:57.303 Continuous delivery tools, CI/CD can do continuous 00:07:57.303 --> 00:07:59.433 integration, continuous delivery. 00:07:59.553 --> 00:08:03.783 That's a weird mashup of terms that essentially mean. 00:08:04.743 --> 00:08:10.383 Tools to run tests and builds and deployments of 00:08:10.383 --> 00:08:12.183 your code onto your servers. 00:08:12.873 --> 00:08:14.583 And at the time. 00:08:15.063 --> 00:08:19.383 Bitbucket and GitHub did not offer anything like that 00:08:19.383 --> 00:08:20.733 built into their platform. 00:08:21.433 --> 00:08:26.353 I previously was using a tool called Circle CI to do that sort of stuff. 00:08:26.743 --> 00:08:29.773 Now all of them offer this out of the box. 00:08:29.983 --> 00:08:34.433 They all now also offer a free private repos, which was another 00:08:34.433 --> 00:08:35.673 selling point for GitLab. 00:08:35.693 --> 00:08:38.633 They had free private repos and, uh, the, 00:08:38.713 --> 00:08:40.573 The CIC D tooling built in. 00:08:41.113 --> 00:08:45.503 And so it was a great way to run a repo for a private, private project. 00:08:46.013 --> 00:08:52.943 Um, They also offered a lot of other stuff like hosting of a Docker registry. 00:08:53.183 --> 00:08:56.683 You could push different types of packages and host them there. 00:08:57.033 --> 00:09:01.203 And they also offered a bunch of other tooling to do monitoring 00:09:01.263 --> 00:09:02.673 and all kinds of other stuff. 00:09:03.043 --> 00:09:06.523 So that was really, really useful to me. 00:09:07.063 --> 00:09:11.483 Since then I've started doing a lot more, open source stuff with 00:09:11.513 --> 00:09:14.183 our project called the Chewy Stack. 00:09:14.903 --> 00:09:18.513 And I am drifting back towards GitHub. 00:09:18.833 --> 00:09:23.873 And my reason for that is that for open source, it's really great to be 00:09:23.873 --> 00:09:27.893 on GitHub because that's where all of the other open source projects are. 00:09:28.133 --> 00:09:33.903 So you just gain visibility, by being there there's more potential 00:09:33.903 --> 00:09:35.853 for connections to other projects. 00:09:35.883 --> 00:09:38.823 People are there already and they trust the platform. 00:09:39.093 --> 00:09:43.113 So we're going to put a little sponsorship button on the project and see if 00:09:43.113 --> 00:09:44.823 anyone's interested in sponsoring. 00:09:45.243 --> 00:09:47.703 And that whole ecosystem is really. 00:09:47.703 --> 00:09:51.483 Really nice to be a part of, for an open source project. 00:09:52.143 --> 00:09:58.873 My instinct is that with that will come some other tie-ins that 00:09:58.873 --> 00:10:00.913 make it valuable to stick around. 00:10:00.943 --> 00:10:05.383 So a company might find it valuable to use, GitHub for their open source 00:10:05.383 --> 00:10:11.053 projects, but because they're already there then they might want to keep their 00:10:11.053 --> 00:10:15.763 enterprise projects in there as well because everyone knows the workflow. 00:10:16.163 --> 00:10:19.163 Yeah, I think that's, that's mostly it there, there are other, 00:10:19.223 --> 00:10:20.753 there are other tools out there. 00:10:20.783 --> 00:10:24.893 Other platforms, I think one of them is called Gitea. 00:10:25.703 --> 00:10:30.873 Uh, git tea I'm just going to take that out and see, I think 00:10:30.873 --> 00:10:32.523 this is another open source one. 00:10:33.063 --> 00:10:37.413 Gitea to you as a forge software package for hosting software development 00:10:37.413 --> 00:10:40.983 version control using get as well as other collaborative features 00:10:40.983 --> 00:10:44.733 like bug tracking, code review, Kanban boards, tickets and wikis. 00:10:45.393 --> 00:10:47.883 Um, yeah, so that's kind of cool. 00:10:47.913 --> 00:10:48.663 It's another one. 00:10:48.663 --> 00:10:50.343 I'm sure there's others too. 00:10:50.793 --> 00:10:56.193 My instinct generally is if you work with JIRA or other Atlassian 00:10:56.193 --> 00:10:58.793 tools, go with BitBucket. 00:10:59.673 --> 00:11:01.893 If you want to run your own. 00:11:02.043 --> 00:11:08.053 Uh, server or if you value the open source and community driven development 00:11:08.083 --> 00:11:11.513 of a platform then go with, GitLab. 00:11:11.923 --> 00:11:17.663 If you're in open source or you're more new to this stuff, then GitHub 00:11:17.683 --> 00:11:19.813 is probably a nice place to go. 00:11:20.143 --> 00:11:23.263 For open source, obviously, as we discussed everyone's there 00:11:23.263 --> 00:11:25.123 anyway, so might as well be there. 00:11:25.433 --> 00:11:29.003 But I think it's also a very friendly platform. 00:11:29.463 --> 00:11:31.473 It's pretty easy to get started with. 00:11:31.763 --> 00:11:33.483 GitLab can be a bit overwhelming. 00:11:33.723 --> 00:11:38.923 Bit bucket is easy, but is tightly integrated with a lot of Atlassian 00:11:38.943 --> 00:11:41.073 stuff and perhaps less flexible. 00:11:41.483 --> 00:11:42.173 So yeah. 00:11:42.243 --> 00:11:45.393 GitHub is probably your best bet if you're just getting started. 00:11:46.233 --> 00:11:49.563 And that is pretty much it. 00:11:49.623 --> 00:11:56.463 I would love to hear why you choose the version control software that 00:11:56.463 --> 00:11:59.493 you do and more specifically, cause it's almost certainly git 00:11:59.763 --> 00:12:01.533 which platform you use and why. 00:12:01.773 --> 00:12:04.563 Did the things I just outlined actually makes sense to you? 00:12:04.613 --> 00:12:08.303 Does that help you make a decision about which platform you want to use? 00:12:08.993 --> 00:12:10.043 Yeah, let us know. 00:12:10.093 --> 00:12:13.963 Shoot us an email at hello@smalltechpodcast.com. 00:12:14.233 --> 00:12:19.123 Or, I don't know, find us on YouTube or on the website or elsewhere. 00:12:19.693 --> 00:12:22.603 If you want to keep up with this stuff with building small tech 00:12:22.873 --> 00:12:25.093 then make sure to subscribe. 00:12:25.273 --> 00:12:29.563 I have been your host Raph, and we all want to do some good in the world. 00:12:29.623 --> 00:12:33.313 So go out and build something good friends.