Using Git Instead of FTP

Using Git instead of FTP is the recommended way to make changes to your website files. Using FTP/STFP to make changes is considered bad practice. Here are some of the reasons why making changes to your website files via FTP/SFTP is dangerous and should be avoided.

• It’s not easy to see which files have been changed.
• It’s not possible to see who has made the last changes.
• Changes cannot be easily reverted.

Git version control keeps track of all file changes made to a project and who made them. If multiple developers are working on the same file, at the same time, the files can be compared and merged if necessary. Each time a change is made to the project, a restoration point is made. A message is added to provide details of the change. Should there be the need to revert a change, Git allows you to easily return to any of the restoration points. These restoration points are referred to as “Commits”.

Git also uses a system that is referred to as branches. Typically, the main branch would be your live website. You can create additional branches, which are basically copies of the website. The advantage of branches, compared to a complete copy of your website, is that a branch just contains the changes. It’s common to have a development or staging branch, alongside your main branch. This is often linked to a development URL, where changes can be previewed before going live.

For these reasons, KWD IT will always recommend using Git instead of FTP for making changes to your website files. All of our WordPress Website Hosting packages are configured to use files managed by Git.