Tech Talk: Linus Torvalds on git

Google · 4.1M views · 2007-05-14 · 1:10:15

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Overview

Linus Torvalds gives a Google tech talk on git, the source control system he created two years earlier. He argues for distributed version control over centralized systems such as CVS and Subversion.

On Hacker News

HN repeatedly recommends it as the iconic explanation of why git is designed as it is and why distributed VCS beats centralized ones.

Recommended by 9 HN people across 8 months · HN mentions 2007–2023

Topics

Testing, debugging & developer tools Linux & open-source ecosystems Tech pioneers & interviews

What people said

fernandotakai · 2023-11 · Strong recommendation
you are getting confused here. what you have is a "paper receipt" (your checked out version) from your bank. something that, if you need an up-to-date version (from another remote), you need to request a new one (by issuing git fetch). git is, by default, distributed, so whenever you need to see the world outside, you need to be explicit. linus made it this way because back in the day (not sure right now tbf) tons of kernel developers do work without any internet connection, and would only connect to pull/send patches. this talk[0] by linus from 2007 (i remember watching it on google videos lol) explains really well where the git mentality came from. i really recommend it to you, since it feels like you are not really getting how git works. [0] [VIDEO]
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PH95VuimJjqBqy · 2023-11 · Strong recommendation
This talk by Linus is iconic, if you haven't watched it you should. [VIDEO] He talks about what SVN got wrong, specifically, that it made branching easy and it's the merging that's the important piece. Git won because it made merging easy.
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Puts · 2022-01 · Strong recommendation
This can not be posted too many times. [VIDEO] Linus Torvalds talk on Google about how GIT is more a way of working then a piece of software. Everybody commits upwards in a tree of trust. If you do it this way you get automatic code reviews and in any team someone should be responsible for the "product" anyway and highest up in the hierarchy.
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