If you're building solutions on IRIS and want to use Git, that's great! Just use VSCode with a local git repo and push your changes out to the server - it's that easy.

But what if:

• You're collaborating with other developers on a shared, remote development environment and want to avoid concurrent editing of the same file
• You're using editors based in the management portal for BPL, DTL, pivots, dashboards, etc. and want straightforward source control for your work
• You're still using Studio for some things and/or occasionally jump back there from VSCode - or, your team has not yet fully embraced VSCode, and some team members still want to use Studio
• You're working on a bunch of separate projects at the same time in the same namespace - say, several packages defined using the InterSystems Package Manager - and want to just work with all of them from one isfs editing view (rather than a bunch of distinct projects) with changes tracked in the proper git repo automatically

Then it wasn't so easy... until late last month, when we released Git for Shared Development Environments (Open Exchange / GitHub). You can get this extension using the InterSystems package manager:

zpm "install git-source-control"

Prior to this, the options for source control with Git were an old mostly-Windows-only, local development environment-only Git extension and a more recent Open Exchange project based on it but streamlining use a bit. There's also Port, which just deals with files and is version control system-agnostic.

What does git-source-control have that these packages don't?

• Simple menu-based integration with git that works on any operating system
• A git user interface to cover an expanding set of common git activities, without having to SSH over to the remote environment.
• Concurrency control for multiple users working in the same environment at the same time. Once you make changes to a class/routine/etc., it's yours until you discard or commit your changes. (We do have ways around this when needed, though!)
• Package manager-awareness: just zpm "load -dev /path/to/package" and, if /path/to/package/.git exists, changes to resources in your package will automatically be reflected in the right place on the server filesystem. The UI works with this too, based on the class/etc. from which it is launched.

All of this works from VSCode:

 

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And Studio:

 

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To give you control over and visual insight into your git repository:

 

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We hope this enables your successful development of IRIS-based solutions, and welcome your feedback!

NOTE - To see the presentation launching this at the 2021 Global Summit, see this article: https://community.intersystems.com/post/video-git-gitlab-shared-developm...