This project is a simplified implementation of Git built from scratch in Rust. My primary motivation for building this project was to deepen my understanding of both the Rust programming language and version control systems. Through this project, I explored various Rust features such as file handling, error management, and data structures, while also gaining hands-on experience with fundamental Git operations.
At the heart of Git is a simple yet elegant system. Commits are stored as tree objects, which capture the state of the repository at a specific point in time. Each commit, branch, and tag is tracked using hashes, allowing Git to efficiently manage changes and ensure data integrity. Branches and tags are just references (or refs) pointing to specific commits, while file changes are automatically tracked by hashing each file, eliminating the need for complex comparison logic. This made git surprisingly simple to implement in Rust.
To get started, clone this repository and build the project using Cargo.
git clone <this-repo>
cd <this-repo>
cargo buildRun the CLI with:
cargo run -- <command>cargo run -- helpDisplay help information for the CLI.
cargo run -- initInitialize a new repository.
cargo run -- commit -m "message"Create a new commit with a message.
cargo run -- logShow the commit history.
cargo run -- statusDisplay the current state of the working directory.
cargo run -- branchList current active branches
cargo run -- checkout -b <name>Create a new branch and switch to it, or switch to an existing branch without -b.
cargo run -- tag <commit-hash> <name>Tag a specific commit with a name so that we can use it for checkout or reset.
cargo run -- reset <commit-hash>Reset the working directory to a specific commit.
cargo run -- show <commit-hash>Show details of a specific commit, including file diffs.