Git is a distributed version control system whose history records version-control snapshots linked by version-control commits. A local repository can contain history and support comparisons and new version-control commits without a connection to a central server. Version-control branches name movable tips of that history.[ref]
Pro Git by Scott Chacon and Ben Straub. §1.3, Snapshots, Not Differences and Nearly Every Operation Is Local
Suppose two collaborators start at the same version-control commit and each records a different change. Their new version-control commits share a parent in the commit graph. Exchanging repository objects makes both histories available; version-control merging can then combine their work, possibly exposing a merge conflict. The stored version-control snapshot identifies recorded file contents, while external datasets and installed software dependencies still need their own reproducibility record.
New to topics? Read the docs here!