The Authoritative Guide to Git

The Authoritative Guide to Git is a technical monograph by Jiang Xin that systematically explains Git. Published by China Machine Press in 2011, it runs to 595 pages and is divided into 9 parts, 41 chapters, and 4 appendices; readers regard it as an "encyclopedia" of Git. Part 1 traces the evolution of version-control tools, explains Git's advantages as a distributed version-control system, and gives installation and initial configuration methods for Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows. Parts 2 and 3 are the foundation of the book: the former is aimed at individual users and covers Git initialization, everyday commits, the staging area, the object model, reset, checkout, saving progress, viewing and changing history, cloning, and local repository management; the latter turns to team collaboration and covers the transport protocols Git supports, conflict resolution, milestones (tags), branching models, remote repositories, and exchanging patch files. Part 4 discusses collaboration patterns in actual work, including the classic centralized and integration collaboration models, Topgit, submodules, subtree merging, Android multi-repository collaboration, and schemes for using Git alongside SVN. Part 5 moves to the server side, explaining the use of HTTP, Git, and SSH protocols, as well as setting up and hosting repositories with services such as Gitolite, Gitosis, and Gerrit. Part 6 focuses on repository migration, covering paths for migrating from CVS, SVN, and Hg to Git and repository cleanup. Part 7 introduces peripheral applications such as etckeeper and Gistore, binary files in patches, and cloud storage; Part 8 covers advanced features such as cross-platform operation, hooks and templates, sparse checkout and shallow cloning, and grafting and replacement. The book balances command operations with underlying principles, and its examples are close to real engineering scenarios; it is suitable for developers who want to move from "knowing how to use" Git to "understanding" it.