Recommendations

When working with version management, it is important to follow best practices to ensure effective collaboration, preservation of work, and ease of use. Here are some recommendations for working with version management:

  1. Document changes: It is important to document changes made to files and code, so that other members of the team can understand what has been changed and why. This can be achieved through meaningful commit messages and regular backups.

  2. Regular commits: Regular commits help to preserve your work and make it easier to revert to previous versions if needed. Committing often also helps to ensure that everyone on the team is up to date with the latest changes.

  3. Use branches: Branches are a way to separate different lines of development within a project. This allows multiple people to work on different parts of the project without interfering with each other.

  4. Collaborate: Version management tools like Git allow for collaboration and teamwork, so it’s important to communicate with others about changes and updates.

  5. Keep code and (large) data seperated, e.g., by storing the data in an appropriate database, file server, etc. For tests, the externalised data can be integrated into a Continuous Integration (CI) pipeline. In addition, a description of all necessary information for aggregating the data should be documented in the project’s README.md file. For managing large files directly in your repository, using Git-annex, DataLad or Git LFS is recommended.

  6. Create a README.md file for each project which contains a short and concise project description. Also make your requirements clear. Demonstrate the installation with commands and demonstrate the use with as many examples as possible. See the suggestions for a good readme for more information.

  7. Use Semantic Versioning when releasing new code: Semantic Versioning is a simple set of rules and requirements that dictate how version numbers are assigned and incremented (Major.Minor.Patch, e.g., 2.0.0).

  8. File and folder naming: Please follow the established guidelines for file and folder naming to ensure efficient and organised data management.

  9. Write a clear policy for contributions and name the contributors.

  10. Don’t forget to add a licence.

  11. Caution is required with sensitive data such as passwords and personal data.

    • For questions and legal advice in the area of research data management, you can contact Stella Thoben.

    • For information on security related questions, you can contact Dr. Ulrich Schwarz.

  12. Stay up-to-date: Keeping your version management tool and any associated tools or libraries up to date is important for security and stability.

By following these recommendations, you can work effectively and efficiently with version management, and make the most of the tools available to you.