Mondo Knows Facts
Git began as a replacement for a proprietary tool
Linus Torvalds wrote the first version in 2005 after a licensing dispute cut Linux off from BitKeeper When the free licence for BitKeeper was withdrawn in April 2005, Torvalds needed a distributed system in which every copy held the full history. He had something working within days and passed maintenance to Junio Hamano within months. Git stores files by the hash of their contents, which lets any copy detect corruption. It sits in Mondo's technology collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.
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Tags: software, version-control, git
Git began as a replacement for a proprietary tool: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Linus Torvalds wrote the first version in 2005 after a licensing dispute cut Linux off from BitKeeper. The figure is taken from Git project, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a technology fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Technology shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.