Question

It seems to me that Git was designed for large scale open source projects, with a high number of developers and teams.

I’m wondering if Git is worth it for smaller team (<10) and internal projects (within organisation). I understand that there is a clear performance benefit to having a local copy of the repository (although that’s not quite as important when your repository inside your organisation…).

Would you still recommend Git (and the complexity that comes with it) and why ?

Answer 1

Git is not really that complex. And it is fantastically powerful and precise. I would not use anything else, for a one-person project or a 100,000-person project. I really mean it.

I see why people say it is complex, but that whole thing is overrated. To do everything you need to do, there are maybe 10 commands max you need to work with. And you don’t need to understand every option of those 10 … just a few cookbook-style “recipes”.

What you do need to understand is a bit about how Git differs under-the-hood. But that’s not because git is complex — it’s because Git is different. You can spend some time over the course of a day or two digging into that info, and you’ll be good to go.

Pardon my crudeness, but Git makes the file system its b*tch. You can flip between “alternate realities” of your software project at will. Once you understand where the tool is coming from, you will have complete, almost god-like control over the bits and characters that comprise your software. There are few tools of such power available to software developers, period.

Yes, man, I recommend Git. Do it. You will be so glad you did. Good luck.