An introduction to version control with XR development created by Ashley Neall

Introduction to Version Control

Why do we need version (aka source) control?

• When projects become more complex, team members need to stay up to date with changes their fellow teammates make.
• If they don’t coordinate consistently, they will face inefficiencies, bottlenecks, lost code, rework, and a lot of frustration.
  • Version control mitigates bottlenecks, inefficiencies, lost code, reworks, and frustration
• How can we version control large project assets? with Git LFS!

What is git LFS?

• git LFS (large file support) enables git tracking of LARGE binary Assets in your XR projects! These include:
  • 3D Models: .fbx, .obj, .blend, etc.
  • Textures and Images: .png, .jpg, .psd, etc.
  • Audio Files: .wav, .mp3, etc.
  • Videos: .mp4, .avi, etc.
  • Unity Asset Bundles: .unity3d, .assetbundle
• tracking files with git LFS
  • make sure git LFS is already installed (git lfs install)
  1. open terminal → navigate to the root directory of your project with: cd </path/to/repository>
  2. run git lfs track "*.<fileextension>" to add a file type for LFS tracking
  3. run git add .gitattributes
  4. run git commit -m "LFS-related message" to commit the .gitattributes file

What is git ignore?

• git ignore ensures that certain files are NOT tracked by Git
  • when you commit to GitHub, the files specified in the .gitignore file are IGNORED
  • this is very useful when we have large XR project repositories, as we can reduce clutter!
• .gitignore file syntax
  • each line specifies a pattern.
  • lines starting with # are comments (not part of the specified ignored information)
• .gitignore organization within project repository
  • place the .gitignore file in the root directory of the Git repository (i.e. your XR project repository)
    • root directory = top-level directory; contains ALL assets, project settings, and other files associated with your Unity project
    • although additional .gitignore files can be placed in subdirectories to apply rules locally, but we don’t have to worry about this for now
    • when a .gitignore file is committed into a repository → ignore rules are consistent across all environments and for all contributors to the project

Unity .gitignore

• default Unity .gitignore ignores:
  • Library — ignored bc its contents (compiled asset data, import settings, caching information) are automatically regenerated by Unity when another project contributor works on a clone of the project in the Unity editor
    • ignoring this mitigates merge conflicts and reduces storage
  • Logs — ignored bc its contents are contributor-specific Unity logs (editor session warnings, output errors, etc. while working in the Unity editor)
    • ignoring this reduces noise and unnecessary repository data
  • other folders / files specific to contributors’ development environments (don’t need to be shared with others):
    • Temp/ — ignores temporary files generated by Unity during runtime and while editing
    • Obj/ — ignores stored object files (intermediate files created during the build process) specific to each build
    • Build/ and Builds/ — ignores output of build processes (executables) specific to each build
    • MemoryCaptures/ — ignores memory captures (large, specific info from debugging sessions)
    • *.csproj, *.sln, *.suo, *.userprefs *.user, *.unityproj, *.pidb, *.booproj — ignores files specific to contributors’ development environment (created by IDE, like Visual Studio)
      • /VSCodeSettings.json — vscode specific
    • • *.pidb.meta, *.pdb.meta, *.mdb, *.mdb.meta — metadata files for debugging symbols specific local builds
• remember: you can customize the Unity .gitignore it based on your project team’s needs