Overview

GitHub is a web-based platform for software development and version control built on Git, the distributed version control system. It provides hosting for source code repositories along with a set of collaboration tools layered on top of Git's underlying model, allowing developers to work on the same codebase from different locations and reconcile their changes through a shared web interface.

The platform hosts a very large number of software projects, both open-source repositories that anyone can view and contribute to and private repositories restricted to specific individuals or organizations. GitHub is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and operates as a subsidiary of Microsoft.

History

GitHub was launched in 2008 by Tom Preston-Werner, Chris Wanstrath, PJ Hyett, and Scott Chacon. The platform arrived at a point when Git was gaining adoption as a distributed version control system, and it paired Git's repository model with a hosted web interface and social collaboration features. Over the following years GitHub grew into a widely used destination for publishing and collaborating on open-source software.

In 2018, GitHub was acquired by Microsoft. Following the acquisition, the platform has continued to operate under the GitHub name as a Microsoft subsidiary rather than being folded into an existing product line.

Features

GitHub combines repository hosting with tooling intended to support the day-to-day work of software teams:

  • Git Repository Hosting — Remote hosting for Git repositories, giving projects a central location from which contributors can clone, fetch, and push changes.
  • Pull Requests — A mechanism for proposing changes from one branch or repository to another, where the proposed changes can be discussed and revised before being merged.
  • Code Review — Tools for reviewing proposed changes, including line-level commentary on differences between versions of a file, so that contributions can be examined before they enter a project's main history.
  • Bug Tracking — Issue tracking for recording defects, feature requests, and other work items associated with a repository, with discussion threads attached to each item.
  • Project Management — Features for organizing and tracking work across a repository or across multiple repositories, connecting planned work to the issues and changes that implement it.

Use and Availability

The platform serves both public and private development. Open-source projects use it to publish source code, accept outside contributions, and coordinate maintenance in the open, while companies and individuals use private repositories for work that is not intended for public distribution. Because repositories are backed by Git, projects hosted on the platform retain the full version history in each local clone, independent of the hosting service.

GitHub is accessible through its official website, and repositories hosted on it can also be worked with using standard Git clients and command-line tooling.