MyGit — Git-Inspired Version Control System (Go)

MyGit is a simplified version control system written in Go that demonstrates the core internal concepts behind Git. The project was built to understand how version control systems manage files, commits, and history using content-addressable storage.

Instead of using Git itself, this project recreates many of Git’s core ideas from scratch using Go and the local filesystem.

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Features

• Initialize a repository • Content-addressable object storage using SHA-1 hashing • Staging area (index) for tracking file changes • Commit snapshots with parent commit references • Commit history traversal • Branch creation and switching • Modular CLI architecture

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Additional Features

• Visual commit graph for better history representation
• Debug mode to trace internal operations during commits

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How It Works

MyGit stores repository metadata inside a hidden directory:

.mygit

This directory contains all version control data including commits, objects, branches, and repository state.

.mygit
├── objects
├── commits
├── branches
├── index
└── HEAD

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Architecture

The project is structured using modular Go packages.

mygit
├── main.go
├── go.mod
├── README.md
├── repository
│   └── repo.go
├── objects
│   └── storage.go
├── commits
│   ├── commit.go
│   └── log.go
├── branch
│   └── branch.go

Each module handles a specific responsibility:

Module	Responsibility
repository	repository initialization
objects	file hashing and object storage
commits	commit creation and history
branch	branch management
main	CLI command routing

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Commands

Initialize repository

./mygit init

Add file to staging area

./mygit add hello.txt

Create a commit

./mygit commit "first commit"

View commit history

./mygit log

Create a branch

./mygit branch feature

Switch branch

./mygit checkout feature

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Example Usage

Example workflow:

./mygit init

echo "hello world" > hello.txt

./mygit add hello.txt

./mygit commit "first commit"

./mygit log

Example output:

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commit: b97d65867cd246c0001125c6ddbaf506bf2744c9
message: sixth commit

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commit: c99529080f01f78901bb51777bcab1ec3c487d04
message: test commit

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Key Concepts Implemented

This project demonstrates several important systems programming concepts:

• Content-addressable storage • SHA-1 hashing for object identification • Commit graphs using parent references • Branch pointers and HEAD reference • Filesystem-based version control storage • CLI tool architecture

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Tech Stack

Language: Go (Golang) Interface: Command Line Interface (CLI) Storage: Local File System

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Future Improvements

Possible improvements include:

• File diff between commits • Merge functionality • Remote repository support • Better CLI argument parsing • Performance improvements

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Author

Kaavya Indhu Computer Science Student

Project created to explore the internal design of version control systems like Git.