Version Control with Git, 2nd Edition

Chapter 13. Repository Management

This chapter describes how to publish Git repositories and then presents two approaches to managing and publishing repositories for cooperative development. One approach centralizes the repository; the other distributes the repository. Each solution has its place, and which is right for you and your project depends on your requirements and philosophy.

However, no matter which approach you adopt, Git implements a distributed development model. For example, even if your team centralizes the repository, each developer has a complete, private copy of that repository and can work independently. The work is distributed, yet it is coordinated through a central, shared repository. The repository model and the development model are orthogonal characteristics.

A Word About Servers

The word “server” gets used liberally and loosely for a variety of meanings. Neither Git nor this book will be an exception, so let’s clarify some aspects of what a server may or may not be, might or might not do, and just how Git might use one.

Technically, Git doesn’t need a server. In contrast to other VCSs, where a centralized server is often required, there is no need to hang onto the mindset that one is required to host Git repositories.

Having a server in the context of a Git repository is often little more than establishing a convenient, fixed, or known location from which repositories are obtained or updates are exchanged. The Git server might also provide some form of authentication ...