VersionControl on emsenn.net

Git as Provenance Structure

Sun, 01 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Git is a version control system. It is also, read differently, a provenance structure: an immutable record of what was done, when, by whom, and building on what prior work. This lesson reads git’s data model through that lens, connecting its design to the formal concept of provenance in the Interactive Semioverse.

Git’s data model

Git stores four kinds of objects, all content-addressed (identified by cryptographic hash) [@chacon_ProGit_2014]:

Blob: the contents of a single file at a single point in time.
Tree: a directory listing — maps names to blobs or other trees.
Commit: a snapshot of the entire repository (a tree), plus metadata: author, timestamp, message, and pointers to parent commits.
Tag: a named reference to a specific commit.

Every commit points to one or more parent commits, forming a directed acyclic graph (DAG) [@spinellis_GitVersion_2012]. The DAG is append-only: you can add new commits, but existing commits are immutable. Their hashes depend on their content, their parents’ hashes, and their metadata — change any of these and you get a different object.

Wed, 31 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Use Git Basics

Check status with git status before and after changes.
Stage relevant files with git add.
Commit changes with a descriptive message.
Pull before pushing when collaborating.

Branching and Merging

Wed, 31 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Branches let you develop changes in parallel. Merging integrates a branch into another branch, resolving conflicts as needed.

Good practice is to keep branches focused and merge them in small, reviewable units.

Commit Messages

Wed, 31 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Commit messages should describe the change and its purpose in a concise form. They help collaborators and future readers understand why a change happened.

What is Git?

Wed, 31 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Git is a distributed version control system that records changes as commits.

It supports branching and merging so multiple lines of work can progress in parallel and be combined later.