GitHub can host various git repositories and provide a web interface. However, unlike other services such as SourceForge or Google Code, the unique selling point of GitHub lies in the ease of branching from another project. Contributing code to a project is very simple: First, click the "fork" button on the project site, then check out the code and add the modifications to the code base just separated, and finally apply to the project leader for code merging through the built-in "pull request" mechanism.

The advantages of Git

Git is a distributed version control system, originally written by Linus Torvalds for the management of Linux kernel code. After its launch, Git has also achieved great success in other projects, especially in the Ruby community. At present, many well-known projects, including Rubinius and Merb, have adopted Git. Git can also be used by deployment tools such as Capistrano and Vlad the Deployer.

The achievements of Git

It currently has over 1.6 million registered users and a code base of 2.8 million. Personal code hosting services cost $7 per month, while enterprise hosting services with firewalls require at least $5,000 per month. Large technology companies spend as much as one million US dollars annually on purchasing GitHub services.

In addition to the imperative library browser and a project Wik, GitHub even includes a GitHub gem to make it more convenient to use GitHub through the shell.