It is hard to imagine a full-fledged DevOps engineer working without using Git. It is a fundamental tool for continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD). Therefore, knowing the basic commands by heart is an important DevOps skill. We have collected the top 10 Git Commands without which a DevOps engineer's work will simply stop.
1. `git init`
Command Purpose: Initializes a new Git repository.
Bash command:
git initDevOps Use Case:
Tracking repository initialization Git allows you to track and version configuration files, which is extremely important when starting/setting up IaC. You will need this command to manage deployment and rollback processes in DevOps.
2. `git clone`
Command Purpose: Clones an existing repository from a remote source.
Bash command:
git clone <repository-url>DevOps Use Case:
Cloning is often needed when deploying applications, running automated tests, or setting up CI/CD pipelines. For local development or deployment, you can clone a repository from GitHub or GitLab and continue working.
3. `git pull`
Command Purpose: Fetches changes from a remote repository and merges them into your local branch.
Bash command:
git pull origin <branch-name>DevOps Use Case:
Using this command ensures that your local environment is up to date when multiple people are working on the same infrastructure or codebase. It also helps integrate pipelines to pull and deploy the latest code version.
4. `git commit`
Command Purpose: Saves your changes locally with a descriptive message.
Bash command:
git commit -m "Describe your changes here"DevOps Use Case:
To maintain product versioning and simplify understanding of which changes have had a positive or negative impact on deployment. Changes are updates to configuration files, scripts, or the application code itself.
5. `git push`
Command Purpose: Pushes your local changes to a remote repository.
Bash command:
git push origin <branch-name>DevOps Use Case:
This command is key to deploying code to production or staging environments. It starts CI/CD pipelines, which automatically test, build, and deploy code. The command also initiates processes in several indispensable DevOps tools: Jenkins, GitHub Actions, and GitLab CI.
6. `git branch`
Command Purpose: Creates and manages branches in your project.
Bash command:
git branch <new-branch-name>DevOps Use Case:
This command is key to deploying code to production or staging environments. It starts CI/CD pipelines, which automatically test, build, and deploy code. The command also initiates processes in several indispensable DevOps tools: Jenkins, GitHub Actions, and GitLab CI.
6. `git branch`
Command Purpose: Creates and manages branches in your project.
Bash command:
git checkout <branch-name>DevOps Use Case:
It is important to be able to switch between environments when different team members work in different environments. This command allows you to move to the production stage when the whole team is still on the dev branch.
8. `git merge`
Command Purpose: Merges change from one branch to another.
Bash command:
git merge <branch-name>DevOps Use Case:
In DevOps practice, merging code from a feature branch into the `main` or `master` branch is a critical step. After testing with this command, you can merge the code into the main branch for deployment to production.
9. `git stash`
Command Purpose: Temporarily stores changes that need to be ready for commit.
Bash command:
git stashDevOps Use Case:
Suppose you need to switch branches to address an urgent issue and temporarily save your work. The subcommand also allows you to apply these stashed changes later using `git stash apply`.
10. `git log`
Command Purpose: Displays a record of all commits.
Bash command:
git logDevOps Use Case:
This command helps track the entire history of deployments, bugs, and audits and who made these changes. It is a crucial command for debugging and rolling back to previous states if necessary.
It's easier to imagine modern DevOps with automation, so if you want to use best practices, we highly recommend learning the top 10 most in-demand commands and actively using them to achieve optimal results here and now.
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