📢 Git 2.38 adds 'Scalar' Repository Management Tool

What's new and improved in Git 2.38

A new repository management tool for large repositories

Git is working on improving how you can handle very large repositories easily. For this, the team includes a new Repository Management Tool, called "Scalar", in Git 2.38. As it is in-built in Git, it provides the following curated and configured set of features designed to be pre-configured for optimal handling of very large-scale repositories.

• Built-in filesystem monitor
• Multi-pack index
• Commit graphs
• Scheduled background maintenance
• Partial cloning
• Cone mode sparse-checkout

Do note that, Scalar was first announced back in February 2020 as a .NET Core application for Git. Since then it has existed in Git but this is the first time Scalar has been included in the main-line release, under Git 2.38.

Rebase dependent branches with –update-refs

When you work on a very large feature, it is often helpful to break it into multiple small tasks. This often results in the creation of multiple branches making it cumbersome while rewrite the history of an earlier branch.

To resolve this issue, Git 2.38 includes a new option to git rebase command called --update-refs that knows how to perform several commands to rewrite the history while performing a rebase with multiple dependent branches.

How to download Git 2.38 for Windows, Linux/Unix, and macOS

The latest version of the Git client can be downloaded from the official site. To download Git version 2.38 for Windows, click here and select either the 32-bit or 64-bit option. From this page, you can also download a portable (thumb drive edition) of Git. To download Git version 2.38 for Linux/Unix, click here. To download Git version 2.38 for Mac OS, click here.