xaqa.txt

Non-SCM Uses of Git
I keep saying that Git is primarily a content tracking toolkit with SCM tools built on top of it.
So, if it’s not built specifically to be an SCM,
perhaps it would be useful to see some other examples of things it might be good for.
This is a simple listing of some other tools
that have been built on Git internals to demonstrate that an SCM is the bundled application,
but Git can also be a useful toolkit for any application needing to track and manage slowly changing distributed trees of content.
Peer to Peer Content Distribution Network
Imagine you are a retail chain or university campus and have a network of digital signage displays
that play flash content advertisements or show campus news, etc.
You have to get new content out to them every day or two,
which may consist of any combination of XML files, images, animations, text and sound.
You need to build a content distribution framework that will easily and efficiently transfer all the necessary content to the machines on your network.
You need to constantly determine what content each machine has and what it needs to have and transfer the difference as efficiently as possible,
because networking to these units may be spotty.
It turns out that Git is an excellent solution to this problem.
You can simply check all the needed content into Git,
create a branch for each unit and point that branch to the exact subtree of content it needs.
Then at some interval, you have the unit fetch its branch.