Born from Pure Spit

The Origin of Git

In 2005, the Linux kernel project was using a proprietary version control system called BitKeeper. The owner of BitKeeper, Larry McVoy, had given the Linux developers a free license because he liked open source. It worked well.

Then drama happened.

McVoy got into a fight with some Linux developers (specifically over reverse-engineering BitKeeper to make it work better with their workflow). In April 2005, he revoked the free license for the Linux kernel team.

Linus Torvalds was furious.
Instead of negotiating, begging, or switching to one of the existing open source version control systems at the time (like Subversion, which he hated), Linus did something completely unhinged:
He decided to write his own version control system from scratch.

According to multiple accounts, he started working on it around April 3rd, 2005. By April 6th, he was already managing the Linux kernel with his new tool. The initial version was written in about two weeks (some say the core was even faster). He named it Git a name he has described as a combination of British slang for "unpleasant person" and an acronym for "Global Information Tracker" (though he’s also said it stands for "Goddamn Idiotic Truckload of sh*t").

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