Is git suitable for one developer without server

Question

I am a single developer without another computer to backup my projects on. I'm looking into source controls and I came across git but all the setup tutorials are targeted to an external server. I used to use SourceGear Vault, but seeing that git is getting alot of attention, I might as well familiarize myself with it. I do not always have internet access.

Is Git suitable for me? Can I be pointed in the right direction to set it up?

1. Visual Studio 2008.
2. Windows 7.

Answer 1

There are free private secure Git repositories out there. I wrote a tutorial on getting this set up on Windows with Project Locker. See Windows Git Tutorial: Cygwin, SSH and Projectlocker.

DVCSs (including Git, Mercurial, etc) are absolutely suitable for use by even one developer as they make it easy to keep multiple backup repositories, which you should in the case of absolute disaster.

It's also worth mentioning Joel's Hg Init: a Mercurial tutorial if you want to go that route.

Answer 2

Yes.

Another tutorial to get git running on windows.

Other viable option is mercurial. There is an excellent book about it - all available on-line

Answer 3

I use git for several private repositories. It's wonderful. If you have Visual Studio Professional (not the free Express version), I recommend the free Git Extensions package that integrates git directly into Visual Studio and Windows Explorer. It includes git, so you won't need to install anything else.

If you have the free Express version of Visual Studio, you can still install Git Extensions, but you won't get the nice Visual Studio plugin since Visual Studio Express doesn't support extensions. The Windows Explorer extensions will still work.

If you're a unixy kind of guy, cygwin is great and has a package for the command-line version of git.

Answer 4

1. As you probably know, you should always have at least another hard disk to make backups.
2. git is quite appropriate for a single developer (I use it all the time). It is not only for backup, but for distribution, cleaner source code, plus, it will make it easier when you want to collaborate with someone else.

Answer 5

Absolutely, source control is not just about allowing multiple people to work on a project.

I use git for all my personal projects.

• Keep a record of your changes: this allows you to easily roll back to a certain version, find out when a bug was introduced, check up on your progress, etc.
• Try new ideas without being afraid of messing up the state of your code: you can always discard the idea branch and go back to your master branch