Still one of the best version control systems of all times

May 20, 2016 10:06 GMT  ·  By

Git, the popular and acclaimed source code management system, has received its third point release, version 2.8.3, bringing over 20 improvements and bug fixes to the current stable 2.8 branch.

Git 2.8 was announced only a couple of months ago, at the end of March. It introduced major new features, like parallel fetch of submodules, which allowed for the inclusion of other Git repositories in a single Git repo when using the "git submodules" command, support for turning off Git's smudge and clean filters, as well as massive improvements to the Git for Windows build.

Since then, Git 2.8 has received three maintenance releases, with the last one, Git 2.8.3, announced on May 19, 2016. Git 2.8.3 comes three weeks after the previous maintenance build, Git 2.8.2, adding fixes or small enhancements to the "git send-email," "git worktree," "git format-patch --help," "git submodule," "git commit," "git replace -e," "git push," "git mv old new," and "git config" commands.

Among other interesting changes implemented in Git 2.8.3, we can mention better support for the CRAM-MD5 authentication method in the "git imap-send" command, and support for socks5h:// proxies to the socks5:// proxy support added in Git 2.6.4. Moreover, some changes to prepare the popular source code management software for the upcoming OpenSSL 1.1.0 release have been implemented.

Git is one of the most used revision control systems today

Designed by some of the most prominent Linux kernel developers, including Linus Torvalds, back in 2005, Git remains one of the most used revision control systems today. Git gained popularity a few years after its initial release, around 2008, when the well-known GitHub web-based Git repository hosting service was founded.

Git is now used by over 12 million developers and end-users worldwide, and the latest version, Git 2.8.2, is now available for download for GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows operating systems. Git 2.8.2 should also be available to GNU/Linux users via the main software repositories of their distributions in the coming days. Please check the changelog below for more details on the modifications implemented in Git 2.8.3.

Git 2.8.3 Changelog