[link|http://kerneltrap.org/node/4982|Linux: Managing the Kernel Source With 'git']

"Linus Torvalds began working on an interim solution called "git" in the absence of BitKeeper. A README included with the source describes it as, "a stupid (but extremely fast) directory content manager. It doesn't do a whole lot, but what it _does_ do is track directory contents efficiently." The documentation goes on to describe two abstractions used by the tool, an "object database", and a "current directory cache". Objects in the object database are referred to by the SHA1 hash of their zlib compressed contents. The various supported object types include, "blobs" which are simply binary blobs of data with no added verification, "trees" which are lists of objects sorted by name, and "changesets" which provide a historical view of an object describing "how we got there, and why". The current directory cache is a binary file "which contains an efficient representation of a virtual directory content at some random time."

During the discussion regarding git and its rapid evolution, Linus explained, "in many ways you can just see git as a filesystem - it's content- addressable, and it has a notion of versioning, but I really really designed it coming at the problem from the viewpoint of a _filesystem_ person (hey, kernels is what I do), and I actually have absolutely _zero_ interest in creating a traditional SCM system."

This is fascinating, it looks like Linus is starting from scratch and creating the building blocks for a new SCM, so much for all the existing SCM open source projects.