Question

I’m using git for writing scientific papers. I often have to collaborate with people who never used a VCS and it’s unlikely they will ever do. So the normal workflow is to make changes to a text file and send it out to the others via email who can review the changes and make their own. What’s the best method for me to keep track of all the changes made by me and others with git?

Answer 1

I guess you could run a diff between their version and your updated one. If they don’t like version control though, I doubt they’ll like reading diff output.

Maybe a better approach would be to set up a shared Dropbox for you to collaborate on. Dropbox uses version control behind the scenes (SVN I think) so any conflicts can be managed and mistakes can be rolled back, but it’s completely seamless, so your colleagues who don’t like version control can just open, edit and save files in the Dropbox folder without ever having to worry about commits or merges.

It also solves the distribution problem – Dropbox sync is a lot safer than email in terms of missed updates or mid-air collisions.

You can also keep the files in a git repository within Dropbox, which again will be invisible to the people not using git, but it will allow you to periodically commit their changes, providing a more robust change history, and because you’re all working in what is effectively the same working copy, you won’t have a lot of painful merging to do.