Git turns 20: A Q&A with Linus Torvalds - The GitHub Blog

Exactly twenty years ago, on April 7, 2005, Linus Torvalds made the very first commit to a new version control system called Git. Torvalds famously wrote Git in just 10 days after Linux kernel developers lost access to their proprietary tool, BitKeeper, due to licensing disagreements. In fact, in that first commit, he’d written enough of Git to use Git to make the commit! Git’s unconventional and decentralized design—nowadays ubiquitous and seemingly obvious—was revolutionary at the time, and reshaped how software teams collaborate and develop. (To wit, GitHub!) To celebrate two decades of Git, we sat down with Linus himself to revisit those early days, explore the key design decisions behind Git’s lasting success, and discuss how it forever changed software development. Check out the transcript of our interview below, and watch the full video above.