If you are involved in software development, you need to find a good version control system (VCS) for your development team as it helps make sure that you do not commit incorrect code and also allows you to refer to the code that you have written in the past. VCS provides an easy to follow history of changes that have been made to the code.
There are many free version control systems like Git, Mercurial and Subversion, but many of these are difficult to use. In this blog, you will learn the similarities and differences between the three popular Git hosting platforms and will also figure out which one suits you the best.
Let's start with
Git is a useful DevOps tool used for source code management. It is a free and open-source version control system, used to track changes and make working with multiple developers easier. In addition to being good at merging and branching, Git is efficient because, developers can commit changes without connecting to a central server. Git's popularity comes from its simplicity, efficiency, and low barrier of entry compared to other version control systems like Subversion or Perforce.
Another reason for Git's popularity is Github. Github launched in 2008. It was one of the first Git hosting platforms. The open source community started to use it for code sharing. It made Github an instant success. So the platform started to gain lots of users today. Github had more than 28 million users and hosts about 57 million repositories. Recently, Microsoft has acquired Github for a price of 7.5 Billion dollars. The acquisition has stirred up controversy in the open source community. A lot of people are worried that Github will lose its open source roots so many are looking at alternatives like Gitlab.
Github has a host of features that can help you manage your projects and collaborate with other developers. Here are just a few of the most popular:
1. Github Issues - This is a great way to track and manage project issues. You can create a new issue, reply to an issue, or merge an issue into another one.
2. Github Wiki - This is a great way to document your project and share information with other developers. You can add new pages, edit pages, and delete pages.
3. Github Pull Requests - This is a great way to get feedback on your code changes from other developers. You can create a pull request, add comments, and set a due date.
4. Github Calendar - This is a great way to keep track of deadlines and plan out your work schedule. You can add new events, view past events, and add notes.
5. GitHub Milestones - This is a great way to mark important milestones in your project and share the progress with other developers. You can set up milestones and add notes on them.
Similar to Github, Gitlab is a git based repository hosting platform. It was launched in 2011. From the beginning, Gitlab wanted to distinguish itself from Github, so it created a single product for the entire DevOps lifecycle. In Gitlab, tools like Issue trackers, continuous integration and continuous delivery are part of the product. Gitlab provides a single interface to the whole DevOps cycle. Today, Gitlab is used by more than 100,000 organizations. Organizations like IBM, Sony, NASA and Alibaba are using Gitlab.
Gitlab features are designed to streamline the workflow of developers, making it easier for them to manage their code and collaborate with other developers. Some of the key features that Gitlab offers include:
1. GitLab Pages - GitLab Pages allows you to create dynamic websites with GitLab. This feature makes it easy for you to create and manage websites without having to learn any coding.
2. GitLab CI - GitLab CI lets you automate the testing of your code using a variety of different testing tools. This helps ensure that your code is always up-to-date and bug-free.
3. GitLab Flow - GitLab Flow is a Continuous Integration (CI) tool that helps developers automate the process of building, testing, and deploying their code. This makes it easy for them to keep their code updated and running smoothly 24/7.
4. GitLab Teams - GitLab Teams is a collaboration platform that lets you organise your team into projects and teams, assign roles and permissions, and track all the activity related to those projects and teams in real time. This makes it easy for you to manage your team's workflows and ensure that everyone is on the same page.
5. GitLab Enterprise Edition - The Enterprise Edition of GitLab offers extra features such as advanced security measures, scalability, performance, and reliability. It also comes with a host of other features such as ready-to-use Apps, integration with popular tools, and more!
BitBucket is another online source code hosting service. BitBucket was launched in 2008. During that time it worked only with Mercurial (a free distributed version control system), but it also has been using Git since October 2011 after being acquired by the Atlassian. It had its own advantages since Atlassian develops mainstream software tools like Jira, Trello and Confluence. Having great integration with such tools has been a great advantage for BitBucket.
BitBucket is a popular web-based platform for software development and content management. It offers developers a wide range of features to help them manage their projects, including version control, source control, code review, task management, and more.
Some of the most popular BitBucket features include:
1. Version control - BitBucket allows developers to keep track of changes to their code using versioning. This helps them avoid the mistakes that can be made when working with unversioned code.
2. Source control - BitBucket also offers source control, which allows developers to keep track of the changes made to their project's source files. This ensures that they can always understand where the project is at and makes it easier to collaborate with other developers.
3. Code review - Another great feature of BitBucket is its code review functionality. This allows developers to have other people look over their code before it's submitted for publication. This helps to ensure that the code is correct and meets the standards set by the team.
4. Task management - BitBucket also features task management functionality, which allows developers to manage their tasks in a more organized way. This makes it easier to track progress and stay on track with your deadlines.
GitHub and GitLab are two of the most popular source code management (SCM) platforms on the internet. They both allow you to store, manage, and collaborate on code projects. However, there are a few key differences between the two that you should be aware of.
First and foremost, GitHub is more popular than GitLab. According to a recent study, GitHub is used by 78% of developers, while GitLab is used by only 14%. Additionally, GitHub has a wider range of features that make it better suited for larger code projects.
Second, GitHub is better suited for collaboration than GitLab. For example, GitHub allows you to create branches and merge changes with other collaborators, which makes it easier to work together on a project. Additionally, GitHub's issue tracker is more user-friendly and integrates with other popular applications, such as Trello and Asana.
Overall, GitHub is the better platform for larger code projects, while GitLab is better suited for collaboration and managing smaller projects.
Let's get into the showstopper, shall we?
The following similarities and differences are going to be based on various functionalities across the platform.
Now that you have understood the platforms, lets see which one suits for you and your company.
If you are going to work only on open source projects, Github would be a good choice since one can upload their own projects and it also acts like an online portfolio. While GitLab can be used if you are an enterprise. It has free private and public repositories which doesn't restrict on the number of users. If you are someone who wants to host multiple repositories and work with many colleagues, then GitLab might be a good choice for you.
BitBucket is the most popular among many organizations because of its user interface. It also has mercurial support. If you are an organization and you want to host your project, BitBucket would be a great choice.
But honestly, this question has to be answered by you. It depends on your requirements, team size and your niche.
For eg. If your are a software company that deals with web development, you would need a good integration with a project management tool, bug reporting tool, text editor tool etc. Check if you can integrate your project management tool like Trello and your bug reporting tool like Disbug to your repository and then make a move.