Git
DevOps & AdminGit is a distributed version control system that tracks changes to files and coordinates work across multiple contributors. It stores a complete history of a project in repositories, enabling branching, merging, and rollback to earlier states. Git is commonly used to manage website code, configuration, and infrastructure files, supporting safer deployments and collaboration across development and operations teams.
How It Works
Git records project snapshots as commits. Each commit captures the state of tracked files plus metadata (author, message, timestamp) and links to previous commits, forming a history you can review, compare, or revert. Because Git is distributed, every clone of a repository contains the full commit history, so work can continue locally even without constant server access.
Work typically happens on branches, which are lightweight pointers to a line of development. You can create a feature branch, make commits, then merge it back into a main branch when ready. When multiple people change the same files, Git attempts to merge automatically; if changes overlap, it flags conflicts for manual resolution. Repositories can be hosted on a central remote for collaboration, backups, and automated workflows like CI/CD deployments.
Why It Matters for Web Hosting
Git affects how reliably you can deploy and maintain a site on a hosting plan. Hosts that support Git-based deployments (SSH access, Git hooks, build tools, and separate staging environments) make it easier to push updates safely, roll back quickly, and keep configuration consistent across servers. When comparing plans, Git support often correlates with developer-friendly features such as shell access, automation options, and better separation between development and production.
Common Use Cases
- Deploying website code from a repository to a server via SSH, hooks, or CI/CD pipelines
- Managing WordPress themes, plugins, or custom mu-plugins as versioned code (excluding uploads and generated files)
- Tracking infrastructure and server configuration (for example, Nginx/Apache configs, Dockerfiles, and environment templates)
- Collaborating on application development with branching, code reviews, and controlled releases
- Creating a rollback path by reverting to a known-good commit after a faulty update
- Maintaining separate branches for production, staging, and development environments
Git vs SVN
Git is distributed, meaning each developer or server clone contains the full repository history and can commit locally, then synchronize with a remote later. SVN (Subversion) is centralized, relying on a central server for most operations and typically storing working copies without the full history. For web hosting, Git is often preferred for modern deployment workflows, branching, and offline work, while SVN may appear in legacy setups or specific tooling that still depends on centralized version control.