How can/should I use git in my environment?

Question

I am contemplating a jump into the Git bandwagon. My environment is made from 1-4 Windows client machines and a single FreeNAS server.

What do I need to make Git work in this type of configuration?

Is there any Git software that I need to install on the server? (in CVS, for example, I don't need to install any software, if the repository is accessed as a Windows (SMB) share).

What do I install on the client machine (Windows) if I already have Cygwin installed? Is there a pre-compiled git.exe (just like cvs.exe) which takes much less space than the proposed 130MB MSysGit?

Do I really have to go through compiling Git binaries in order to have Git on my Windows client?

I am totally clueless as to what the move from the CVS paradigm to the Git paradigm entails.

Answer 1

Git is not the same as svn or cvs, since it is "Fully distributed", so there are not really clients and server, just nodes. In your case you'll want to get your "client machines" pointing to a remote repo on the NAS, where they can push their changes. You can point to this repo using many methods including file, as outlined here:

http://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-push.html#URLS

In git all your clients are nodes too, so for example developer1 might have a experimental branch in his repo that developer2 pulls from to review. This branch would not need to be on the "server". This is both confusing and powerful.

The easiest start to to just follow the client/server model to start with. 4 "clients" pushing changes up to a git repo on a shared file server.

Is there a pre-compiled git.exe (just like cvs.exe)

Yes, look here, http://oreilly.com/software-engineering/excerpts/version-control-git/installing-git.html

I would also suggest signing up for a free github.com account, install git on one machine and play around, fork others projects, pull them down, push them up etc...

Maybe if you have an hour to kill buy the http://peepcode.com/products/git screencast to be walked though git.

Answer 2

On the computers in my shop, I simply:

• unzip the portable edition of Git for Windows (from msysgit project); les than 10Mo (differs from the 130Mo msysgit downloads which allows to recompile Git on Windows: you don't need that for what you want to do).
• change the <git install dir>/etc/gitconfig to add:
  • core.autocrlf to false (because I don't like automated changes)
  • git config --system http.sslcainfo \bin/curl-ca-bundle.crt, because of a msysgit bug.
• uses the <git install dir>/git-cmd.bat or the <git install dir>/git-bash.bat to open new DOS windows or bash sessions with the right PATH set in them (and in them only, meaning no global modification to the User PATH environement variable outside of those shells).