For a long time now I have been relying on some fairly unsafe and unmanageable practices for storing and backing up my various hobby project files. Using Dropbox to sync files between my desktop and notebook computers and filling up USB flash drives with zipped snapshots of project files is just not cutting it anymore. I needed some real version control.

My requirements are very simple (I think) …

• Keep a historical context to my project files so I can better track the work that has been done and where my projects are headed.
• Provide a central easy to access place for others to download, track or view my work.
• Allow others to submit bug or issue reports.

I have fumbled around with Google Code project hosting in the past but it struck me as awkward. It also has many features outside of my requirements that I just didn’t need. Vanadium Labs uses Google code nicely for both the documentation and project hosting for their ArbotiX RoboController but I think that I would prefer owning and hosting documentation on my own site. Also… Google already has enough of my information!

Git and Github seems to fit my requirements well. Git itself is a very unobtrusive and easy to use program once you get past the initial learning curve. The documentation on the git website is excellent. GitHub is a very clean and simple website that allows others to easily view, download and report issues with projects.

So far I have created my GitHub account and have started to push project repositories to it. More to be added as I clean up all my past projects!