Git Workflow Essentials

Git is the version control system that enables collaboration. As a DevOps engineer, you’ll use Git daily for:

• shipping code via PRs
• tracking infrastructure changes
• automating CI/CD triggers
• auditing history (who changed what and when)

Theory first: Git as a history model

Git is not just a command set; it is a graph of commits with pointers (branches/tags) that move over time. Commits are immutable snapshots, and collaboration is about safely moving pointers while preserving traceability.

This perspective helps you choose the right operation: commit for snapshotting, branch for parallel work, merge for integration, and rebase for local history cleanup when team policy allows.

Learning outcomes

After this tutorial you can:

• create commits from a clean workflow
• branch safely
• merge and resolve conflicts

1) Clone & inspect

# clone a repo
git clone https://github.com/org/repo.git

# enter repo
cd repo

# see status
git status

2) Staging & committing

# stage a file
git add README.md

# stage all changes
git add -A

# create a commit (message is required)
git commit -m "Add onboarding guide"

Commit message guidance

A common pattern:

• short summary (imperative)
• optional body describing why

Example:

Fix prod restart loop

systemd was failing due to permissions on /var/log/app.

3) Branching (standard team model)

# create a feature branch
git checkout -b feature/linux-networking

# later, switch back
git checkout main

4) Merging

# merge feature into main
git checkout main
git merge feature/linux-networking

Merge conflicts (what to do)

When Git pauses:

1. open the conflicted files
2. decide the final content
3. stage resolved files
4. complete merge

# see which files conflicted
git status

# after resolving
git add path/to/conflicted-file

git commit

5) Log (audit and debugging)

# compact history
git log --oneline --decorate --graph -20

# what changed in a commit
git show <commit-sha>

Next steps

Continue with:

• Git branching strategies (PR-based workflows)
• GitHub collaboration concepts (issues, PRs)
• GitHub Actions CI/CD (automate checks)