Git & GitLab (with GitHub) Modern Developer Workflow (TTDV7553)

This course provides a hands-on, modern introduction to Git, with a strong focus on GitLab workflows while remaining fully compatible with GitHub. Participants learn best practices for collaboration, branching, rebasing, code review, and CI/CD.

1. Git & Platform Basics

• Core Concepts
  
  • What version control is and why it matters
  • Git architecture: working tree, index, repository
  • Local vs. remote repositories
  • Distributed version control fundamentals
• Git Installation & Setup
  
  • Installing Git (Linux, macOS, Windows)
  • Initial configuration (user.name, user.email)
  • Line endings, editors, and defaults
• GitLab & GitHub Overview
  
  • Navigating GitLab UI
  • Repository structure and permissions
  • Comparing GitLab and GitHub concepts
• Hands-on
  
  • Initialize a repository
  • Create your first commit
  • Push to GitLab or GitHub
  • Explore repository UI

2. GitLab Flow & Team Workflows

• Workflow Models
  
  • GitFlow vs. GitLab Flow
  • Trunk-based development
  • When to use feature branches
• Environment Strategy
  
  • Feature, staging, and production branches
  • Release branches vs. tags
  • Environment promotion patterns
• Collaboration
  
  • Issues, merge requests (MRs), and discussions
  • Linking commits to issues
  • Approvals and review policies
• Optional Platform Features
  
  • GitLab: Protected branches, approval rules
  • GitHub: Branch protection, required reviews

3. Branching Strategy

• Branching Fundamentals
  
  • Creating and switching branches
  • Short-lived vs. long-lived branches
  • Naming conventions (feature/, bugfix/, release/)
• Visualization & Cleanup
  
  • Visualizing branch graphs
  • Deleting merged branches
  • Keeping repositories tidy
• Releases
  
  • Annotated vs. lightweight tags
  • Semantic versioning
  • Release notes

4. Configuring Git Like a Pro

• Configuration
  
  • Global vs. local .gitconfig
  • Editor, diff, and merge tools
  • Line ending normalization
• Productivity Boosters
  
  • Git aliases
  • Shell integrations
• Ignoring Files
  
  • .gitignore patterns
  • Project vs. global ignores
• Authentication & Security
  
  • HTTPS vs. SSH
  • Managing SSH keys
  • Credential helpers

5. Rebasing (Safely and Effectively)

• Concepts
  
  • Rebase vs. merge
  • When rebasing is appropriate
  • Rewriting history safely
• Practical Rebasing
  
  • Rebasing local branches
  • Interactive rebase (reword, squash, fixup)
  • Cleaning up commit history
• Conflict Handling
  
  • Resolving rebase conflicts
  • Aborting and continuing rebases
  • Common mistakes and recovery

6. Merging & Code Reviews

• Merge Types
  
  • Fast-forward merges
  • No-fast-forward merges
  • Merge commits explained
• Platform-Based Merges
  
  • Merge requests (GitLab)
  • Pull requests (GitHub)
  • Code review best practices
• Tooling
  
  • Diff views
  • Inline comments
  • Review checklists

7. Resolving Merge Conflicts

• Understanding Conflicts
  
  • Why conflicts occur
  • Common conflict scenarios
• Resolution Techniques
  
  • Manual resolution in editors
  • Using git status and git diff
  • Marking conflicts as resolved
• Best Practices
  
  • Small, focused commits
  • Frequent pulls/rebases
  • Testing after resolution

8. Working with Remote Repositories

• Remote Basics
  
  • origin, upstream, and forks
  • Cloning vs. forking
  • Fetch vs. pull
• Collaboration Models
  
  • Shared repository model
  • Fork-and-merge model
• Tracking & Syncing
  
  • Upstream branches
  • Keeping forks up to date

9. Exploring & Managing History

• History Inspection
  
  • git log, git show, git diff
  • Graph and pretty formats
• Accountability Tools
  
  • git blame
  • Annotate views in GitLab/GitHub
• Undoing Changes
  
  • Amend commits
  • Revert vs. reset
  • Recovering lost commits

10. Improving Your Daily Git Workflow

• Everyday Power Tools
  
  • git stash
  • Interactive staging (git add -p)
  • Reviewing diffs before commit
• Commit Quality
  
  • Writing meaningful commit messages
  • Atomic commits
  • Conventional commits (optional)
• Automation
  
  • Aliases for repetitive tasks
  • Git hooks (pre-commit basics)

11. CI/CD with GitLab (and GitHub)

• CI/CD Fundamentals
  
  • What CI/CD solves
  • Pipelines, stages, and jobs
• GitLab CI/CD
  
  • GitLab Runner overview
  • .gitlab-ci.yml structure
  • Variables and secrets
  • Artifacts and caching
• Pipelines in Practice
  
  • Build, test, deploy stages
  • Visualizing and debugging pipelines
  • Optimizing execution time
• Optional GitHub Features
  
  • GitHub Actions
  • Workflow YAML syntax
  • Marketplace actions

Optional Advanced Topics

• Monorepos vs. multirepos
• Submodules vs. subtrees
• Signed commits and tags
• Security scanning (SAST, dependency scanning)
• Release automation
• GitOps concepts

Course Deliverables

• Hands-on labs
• Sample repositories (GitHub & GitLab)
• CI/CD pipeline examples
• Best-practice checklists
• Real-world workflow patterns

Basic command-line familiarity

Developers, DevOps engineers, technical teams