Guided resource · Production / Pre-production
Pro Git: About Version Control
A free online explanation of local, centralised and distributed version control and the problems each approach addresses.
Pro Git: About Version Control · Scott Chacon and Ben Straub · Git project
Open original resource ↗Free. Checked 9 August 2026.
Before you start
This is conceptual reading from a larger technical book. Set one question so learners know why they are reading it.
Key things to watch for
- What a version-control system records
- Why duplicated folders are easy to confuse
- The difference between one central history and distributed copies
- How history supports recovery and investigation, not just storage
Don’t worry about this yet
Skip installation and advanced commands if the immediate aim is to understand the production need.
Try this afterwards
Take a messy imaginary project folder and decide which changes should have been commits, branches or releases.
Teaching idea
Stage a two-minute failure: overwrite a shared file, then compare how backups, cloud sync and version control would each respond.
Next step
Complete GitHub Skills: Introduction to GitHub or practise the same cycle in GitHub Desktop.
Licence
CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 ↗ applies to Pro Git book content.
Keep moving
Useful next steps.
The one-page pre-production check
A short planning structure that exposes risk and scope before learners disappear into asset production.
GitHub Skills: Introduction to GitHub
A short official exercise introducing repositories, branches, commits and pull requests.
Peer Critique Cards
Structured prompts that keep peer feedback specific, evidenced and useful to the next production decision.