Version Control for Linguists: A Practical Guide to Git

Part 1: Why Git?

Introduction

Version control is a system that records changes to a file or set of files over time, allowing you to recall specific versions later. Git is a popular and powerful version control system, and it’s essential for academic research, especially in collaborative and data-intensive fields like linguistics.

Pain Points in Linguistic Research (and how Git helps)

Linguistics PhD students often face challenges that Git can help solve:

• Managing multiple versions of papers, theses, and data files: Git helps you avoid the “final_final_really_final.docx” problem by tracking every change.
• Collaborating with supervisors or other researchers: Git facilitates seamless collaboration on shared documents or code.Tracking changes: Git provides a clear history of how your work has evolved.
• Experimenting with different analyses: Create branches to explore new ideas without affecting your main work.Reverting to previous versions: Easily undo mistakes or return to an earlier state of your project.
• Backing up your work: Remote repositories (like GitHub, BitBucket) provide secure backups.
• Managing code: Git is crucial for managing scripts for corpus analysis, statistical modeling, or other computational tasks.

Analogy: Think of Git as a way to track the evolution of a linguistic theory. You can see how the theory developed over time, which changes were made at each stage, and who made them. Or, consider the stages of corpus annotation; Git can track each layer of annotation and who contributed it.

Part 2: Getting Started with Git

Installation

Git has a comprehensive user guide here. You can download Git from the official website: https://git-scm.com/. Follow the instructions for your operating system (Windows, macOS, or Linux).

Basic Concepts

• Repository (Repo): A directory that Git tracks. You initialize a repo with git init. (The product that you are going to make)

• Working Directory: The files you are currently working on. (Your factory where the product is manufactured)

• Staging Area (Index): A place to prepare changes for a commit. You add files to the staging area with git add. (Take your products to the port)

• Commit: A snapshot of your changes. You create a commit with git commit -m <Your descriptive commit message>. (Ship your products out)

Your First Commit

1. Create a new directory for your project:

mkdir <path/to/my_project>
cd <path/to/my_project>

2. Initialize a Git repository in that directory

git init

The output will look something like this:

Initialized empty Git repository in /path/to/your/my_project/.git/

3. Create a file (e.g., README.md):

echo "\# My Linguistics Project" \> README.md

4. Add the file to the staging area:

git add README.md

5. Commit the changes:

git commit -m "Initial commit: Added README"

The output will look something like this:

[main (root-commit) 8f42b21] Initial commit: Added README 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+) create mode 100644 README.md

Part 3: Essential Git Operations

Checking the Status

Use git status to see the state of your working directory and staging area:

git status

If you’ve just created the repo and added the README, the output will look something like:

On branch main
No commits yet
Changes to be committed:
  (use "git rm --cached <file>..." to unstage)
        new file:   README.md

Viewing History

Use git log to see the commit history

Useful options:

• git log --oneline: Displays each commit in a single line.
• git log --graph: Shows the commit history as a graph, which is helpful for visualizing branches
• git log --author="Your Name": Filters the log to show commits by a specific author.git log –author=“Your Name”

Ignoring Files

Create a .gitignore file to tell Git which files to ignore. This is useful for temporary files, build outputs, and large data files.

Example .gitignore (for a LaTeX project):

*.aux
*.log 
*.pdf
*.blg
*.bbl

Making Changes and Committing Again

1. Modify a file (e.g., edit README.md - add a line).
2. Add the changes to the staging area: git add README.md
3. Commit the changes: git commit -m“Update README with more details”

Comparing changes

• git diff: Shows the differences between the working directory and the staging area.
• git diff --cached: Shows the differences between the staging area and the last commit.

Part 4: Branching and Merging (Collaboration and Experimentation)

Branches

Branches are independent lines of development. They are useful for:

• Working on new features without affecting the main work.
• Collaborating on different aspects of a project.
• Experimenting with different versions of a paper.

Basic Branch Operations

• List branches:

git branch

• Switch to a branch:

git checkout main \# or master

• Create and switch to a new branch:

git checkout -b new_branch_name

• Merging

Combine changes from one branch into another:

git checkout main
git merge new_branch_name

• Merge Conflicts

Merge conflicts occur when Git cannot automatically combine changes. You’ll need to manually resolve these conflicts.

Part 5: Remote Repositories (Collaboration and Backup)

Introduction to Remote Repositories

Platforms like GitHub , GitLab, and Bitbucket provide remote repositories for collaboration and backup.

Creating a Remote Repository

1. Create an account on a platform like GitHub.
2. Create a new repository on the platform.

Connecting Local and Remote Repositories

1. Add the remote repository as an origin:

git remote add origin <repository_url>

2. Push your changes to the remote repository:

git push -u origin main \# or master. The -u sets up tracking.

3. Pull changes from the remote repository (that are missing on your local machine):

git pull origin main

4. Clone an existing repository:

git clone <repository_url>

Part 6: Git for Linguistics-Specific Tasks

###Managing Linguistic Data

• Use .gitignore to exclude large data files from version control (if necessary).
• Consider Git LFS (Large File Storage) for managing large binary files.
  • Example: Tracking changes in a corpus of annotated speech recordings.

Collaborating on Papers and Theses

• Use branches for different sections or versions of a document.
• Use pull requests to review changes before merging them into the main branch.
  • Example: Multiple authors working on a LaTeX document.

Tracking Code for Analysis

• Store your R, Python, PRAAT, or other scripts in a Git repository.
• Use commits to track changes to your analysis code.
  • Example: Managing scripts for statistical analysis of linguistic data.

Version Control for Linguistic Resources

• Manage grammars, dictionaries, or other linguistic resources with Git.
  • Example: Tracking changes to a set of fieldwork notes in FLEx.

Using Git with LaTeX

• Ignore auxiliary files (e.g., .aux, .log, .pdf) using .gitignore as demonstrated above .
• Keep your LaTeX source files (e.g., .tex) under version control.

Part 7: Best Practices and Further Learning

Best Practices

• Write meaningful commit messages: Explain why you made the changes, not just what you changed.
• Commit frequently: Make small, logical commits.
• Keep branches focused: Each branch should have a specific purpose.
• Communicate with collaborators: Coordinate your work with others.

Further Resources

• Official Git Documentation: https://git-scm.com/docGitHub
• Learning Resources on Github: https://docs.github.com/en/github/getting-started-with-githubGitLab
• Documentation of Gitlab: https://docs.gitlab.com/Atlassian
• Git Tutorials on W3schools: https://www.w3schools.com/git/

Git is a powerful managing tool when your project grows bigger, involves many collaborators, and carries on for a long time.