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Git integration

Last modified: 05 June 2024

Writerside has built-in integration with Git – a distributed version control system that tracks changes in your documentation sources.

This article explains some basic concepts about Git and how they can be used in Writerside for documentation authoring. For a full description of how Git integrates in JetBrains IDEs, see Git for IntelliJ IDEA.

Why you should consider using Git for your documentation sources:

  • Robust change tracking ensures that you have a complete history of changes. If you provide informative commit messages, then you will also be able to understand why a certain change has been made.

  • Collaboration is important if you have several authors working on the same documentation sources. With Git, everyone works in their own copies (clones) of the repository, and submits changes (commit and push) only when the changes are ready. And if two people happen to change the same piece of content, the latest changes will not simply overwrite earlier changes: you will be able to resolve conflicts and ensure that all changes are taken into account.

  • Versioning your documentation ensures that users of every version get the most relevant information. While you can set up separate instances for each version, it is generally more convenient to branch off the versions from a common root. Every branch in Git is a copy of your project that contains only the differences specific to one particular version.

  • Combined with a Git hosting service, such as GitHub or GitLab, you can automate the builds, testing, and deployment of your documentation similar to common and robust practices in software development.