Edward Thomson on All Things Git, libgit2, and Azure DevOps - Episode 006

This week, your host, Jeffrey Palermo, brings you a recording, live from the Microsoft Ignite conference. He interviews Edward Thomson, the Principal Program Manager for Azure DevOps, the maintainer of libgit2 (the git library), a host of All Things Git (a podcast about Git), and the curator of Developer Tools Weekly (a weekly newsletter with developer tool news). After the tight-knit company Edward was a Software Engineer for — Teamprise — was acquired by Microsoft, Edward transitioned into the role of Software Engineer with Microsoft, then GitHub briefly, 6 years later. After Github, Edward returned to Microsoft in 2017, this time as their Senior Program Manager — and most recently, as their Principal Program Manager (since two months ago).

Edward is a huge mover and shaker in the Git area of Azure DevOps Services. And in this episode, he answers questions that tons of teams continue to ask in the space. He also speaks about his many side projects: libgit2, All Things Git, and Developer Tools Weekly.

Topics of Discussion:

[1:11] About today's episode and guest.

[1:37] Jeffrey welcomes Edward to the podcast.

[2:13] A bit about the Microsoft Ignite conference.

[3:31] How Edward landed the role he's currently in, with Microsoft.

[6:38] Does the work Edward has been doing with Git, precede him joining Microsoft?

[9:58] A word from Azure DevOps sponsor: Clear Measure.

[10:24] What is libgit2? What does it do?

[13:11] Is there any source code that won't work with Git?

[16:18] Version control of binary files — where does it all break down?

[18:11] Is there a file size that's too large for Git?

[20:14] Does Edward recommend checking in your NuGet packages?

[24:12] When did the use of shallow cloning (for repositories) come about?

[26:44] What is Edward and the Azure DevOps team thinking about pushing forward with the Git engine (when Microsoft acquires GitHub)?

[30:03] Edward talks about his weekly newsletter, Developer Tools Weekly.

[31:29] What was in Edward's weekly newsletter that he sent off just this morning (of recording this podcast).

[34:36] All about Edward's podcast, All Things Git.

[36:27] Edward answers some FAQs in the Git area of Azure DevOps!

[47:03] Edward's parting words for listeners on today's podcast.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Microsoft Ignite

Microsoft Ignite's Twitter
ADP: Buck Hodges episode

ADP: Donovan Brown episode
ADP: Sam Guckenheimer episode

libgit2

All Things Git Podcast

Developer Tools Weekly

Teamprise

Visual Studio

GitHub

Clear Measure (Sponsor)

VFSforGit

GitKraken

Sourcetree

Azure Repos

Game Developers Conference (GDC)

NuGet

Shallow Cloning
Azure Pipelines

dev.azure.com/libgit2

Want to Learn More?

Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

Follow Up with Our Guest:

Edward Thomson's LinkedIn

Edward Thomson's Twitter