gitlab-org / gitlab

Version Control & Collaboration - gitlab-org/gitlab

Version Control & Collaboration with GitLab

GitLab is a comprehensive version control and collaboration platform that streamlines software development. It offers features to support collaboration, acceleration, and compliance and security. This document will cover the core functionality of GitLab for managing Git repositories, including branching, merging, and collaborating on code through merge requests.

Collaboration

Collaboration is an essential element of version control. GitLab offers several features to strengthen collaboration across an organization:

Access controls

GitLab simplifies auditing and compliance with granular access controls and reporting. Protecting project creation/deletion and limiting visibility into projects, groups, and snippets are possible with GitLab’s advanced access control features. GitLab Code Owners helps teams identify who owns certain repository files or paths, so contributors can share changes with owners to ensure quality.

Merge requests

Merge requests can track, review, and approve code changes, helping teams protect the source code. GitLab can help teams set required merge request approvals, and restrict who can push and merge to specific users. In addition to protected branches, GitLab also offers the ability to set specific rules, such as blocking Git tag removal or requiring format for commit messages. To protect the code base from prying eyes, GitLab rejects any files that are likely to contain secrets.

Web IDE

GitLab’s Web IDE editor makes it easy for team members to contribute changes to projects with an advanced editor with commit staging. When viewing a file, contributors can access the Web IDE when viewing files, merge requests, or the repository file list. Web IDE lowers the barrier of entry for team members who may not feel comfortable making changes in the terminal. With Web IDE, GitLab ensures that everyone - regardless of skill level - can collaborate.

Acceleration

GitLab provides a comprehensive version control solution to deliver better software faster in a single platform, simplifying how to implement version control.

Branching

Branching is a powerful feature of Git that allows developers to work on new features or bug fixes without affecting the main codebase. GitLab makes branching easy and provides a graphical interface to visualize and manage branches.

Merging

Merging is the process of combining changes from one branch to another. GitLab provides a merge button that allows developers to merge branches with a single click. GitLab also supports merge strategies like merge commits, rebase, and squash.

Pipelines

Pipelines are a way to automate the build, test, and deployment of software. GitLab provides a visual interface to manage pipelines and provides detailed logs and artifacts for each stage of the pipeline.

Compliance and Security

GitLab simplifies auditing and compliance with granular access controls and reporting. Protecting project creation/deletion and limiting visibility into projects, groups, and snippets are possible with GitLab’s advanced access control features.

Auditing

GitLab provides detailed logs and auditing capabilities to track changes to the codebase and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.

Compliance

GitLab provides features to help organizations comply with regulatory requirements like SOC 2, HIPAA, and GDPR.

Security

GitLab provides features to help organizations secure their codebase, including secret detection, dependency scanning, and container scanning.

Conclusion

GitLab is a comprehensive version control and collaboration platform that offers features to support collaboration, acceleration, and compliance and security. With GitLab, teams can manage Git repositories, branch and merge code, and collaborate on code through merge requests. GitLab simplifies how to implement version control and provides a single platform to manage the entire software development lifecycle.

Sources