0In software engineering, software configuration management (SCM) is the task of tracking and controlling changes in the software, part of the larger cross-disciplinary field of configuration management. SCM practices include revision control and the establishment of baselines. If something goes wrong, SCM can determine what was changed and who changed it. If a configuration is working well, SCM can determine how to replicate it across many hosts.
What is "version control", and why should you care? Version control is a system that records changes to a file or set of files over time so that you can recall specific versions later. For the examples you will use software source code as the files being version controlled, though in reality you can do this with nearly any type of file on a computer.
Git is a free and open source distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency. It outclasses SCM tools like Subversion, CVS, Perforce, and ClearCase with features like cheap local branching, convenient staging areas, and multiple workflows.
