Using GIT to track changes in MDT 2012

Question

Can I use SVN or GIT to handle version control and tracking changes for deployments built in MDT 2010/Deployment Workbench ?

Answer 1

I'd say you probably can. GIT is more likely to be a good fit for retro-fitting to an existing configuration. You can simply create a new repository in a folder, and then add your configuration assets to it. To do the equivalent thing in SVN, you first have to add your assets to a repository, and then delete the local copy and pull it back from the repository... which would make some people (including myself) nervous.

SVN adds hidden directories right through your file system, while GIT just has the single repository.

Having said that - I don't know what MDT is. Perhaps you should explain more in your question. But simply put, if it operates on a normal file system, then GIT should work well for you, especially if you are careful about which items you want to version. Also - a lot of applications that need version control have a plug-in model to support different providers. This may be true of MDT.

Answer 2

I use Git and Gitlab to track my changes in MDT. One just needs to use .gitignore to carefully leave out .wim, .iso, .log and other files such as drivers that need not be tracked. A very simple .gitignore might look like this:

*.log
*.wim
Applications
Backup
BDDLogs/*.iso
BDDLogs/*.wim
Captures
Operating\ Systems
Out-of-Box\ Drivers
Servicing
Templates
Tools
Audit.log

Gitlab gives your commits a nice Web GUI and makes it very easy to retrieve old copies. I also always keep the git command prompt close at hand so I can make commits for every change.