What Is Helix4Git?
Helix4Git is a high-performance Git server (inside a Perforce server). This allows Git users to access their source code as they would normally by using Git commands.
What Is Helix TeamHub?
Helix TeamHub is a Git code hosting tool — like GitHub, Bitbucket, and GitLab. It's available on-premises or in the cloud. You can use it to manage multiple Git repositories. (Have SVN or Mercurial repositories? It can manage them, too.) See pricing.
Bring Git Assets/Users Together With Perforce Version Control
When you use Helix4Git (and/or Helix TeamHub) with Helix Core, you can maintain a single source of truth across development teams. This is especially important if you’re working with open source or third party development teams.
How It Works
- Developers use Git as they would normally — with any Git code hosting solution.
- They can commit changes, then collaborate and do code reviews in Helix TeamHub (or GitLab/GitHub/Bitbucket).
- Git code (from Helix4Git) gets combined with all your other digital assets (from Helix Core) into your preferred build runner.
Use the Best Version Control Software
Helix Core is the best version control software for world-class development at scale. Not using Helix Core yet? Learn more >>
How Perforce Git Tools Enable Faster Performance at Scale
Achieve 40–80% Faster Builds
Native Git slows down the build process. The longer it takes, the longer the overall build/test process is. And that brings developer productivity to a halt.
Helix4Git streamlines your build process. Developers get faster feedback, so they can build, test, and move on to the next task faster. That’s because you can store your Git code, large binary files, and other digital assets in the Perforce server. And you can retrieve them 40–80% faster than you would with native Git alone.
Push and Pull Code Without Delays
Pulling down a repo and pushing new code takes too long in traditional Git development. Especially when teams are distributed around world. Remote teams often wait hours just to get started on their work.
Helix4Git solves these challenges, so you can push and pull code without the WAN wait. That’s because you can manage your Git repos in a single source of truth. So, everyone will be working on the same codebase, using the latest version. And remote teams will be able to work together more efficiently, as if they’re in the same room.
Keep All Your Repos in One Project
Many large projects today have multiple repositories — often 100s to 1000s of repositories — and dependencies. Most will also have non-source code elements. This includes binary artifacts, artwork, audio, and video files. And there will also be a lot of users and groups to manage. Trying to manage everything in native Git is a struggle, and often involves scripting and add-on tools.
Helix TeamHub brings multiple repositories into your pipeline. That’s because it’s designed to work and manage thousands of users, groups, and repos. Using Helix TeamHub lets teams work on very large projects in Git — and scale.
Manage Large Binary Files
Git was never designed to handle large binary files. It has limits on the size of repositories. And because your repository grows with every commit, it’s easy to exceed the limit. Trying to manage large binary files in Git drains server and client resources. So, when you’re working with large files, there are slowdowns.
Helix Core is built to handle large files — and especially large binary files. Using Helix4Git with Helix Core allows you to leverage this performance for large binary files and use Git source code in the pipeline.
How Perforce Git Tools Maintain a Single Source of Truth
Helix4Git and Helix TeamHub ensure a single source of truth across your pipeline. That means you can:
- Accelerate Complex Product Builds
- Maintain a Reliable Audit Trail
- Avoid Duplicating Disaster Recovery Efforts
- Collaborate on CI Workflows
- Enforce Code Review Processes
Accelerate Complex Product Builds
Building and releasing a product typically requires a combination of code and other digital assets. This often means multiple repositories. And the more repositories, the more difficult it is to pull together.
Using Helix4Git (with Helix Core) adds clarity to your complex product build. You can pull together code from multiple sources — for example, Helix Core, GitLab, and GitHub — into a single workspace. That workspace ensures you build and release faster and easier than you would with native Git alone.
Maintain a Reliable Audit Trail
Using data from multiple sources makes it difficult to create an audit trail. And native Git lacks security and data protection features. This makes it particularly difficult for security-focused and regulated companies to maintain an audit trail.
Combining your Git code (from Helix4Git) with Helix Core data makes it easy to create and maintain an audit trail for your entire product lifecycle. That’s because using Helix4Git brings the power of Helix Core to your Git repos. That means you can leverage Helix Core changelists for auditability. Plus, Helix Core is the most securable version control software, with top-notch access control.
Avoid Duplicating Disaster Recovery Efforts
Enterprise companies are required to have a disaster recovery plan for their code repositories. And if your Git code isn’t backed up, you could lose it all.
Helix4Git provides a central server for your Git code. It replicates your repos and backs everything up. As a result, it’s available around the clock. If you’re using Helix Core and you’ve already built disaster recovery processes, you can incorporate your Git code into that existing plan. And you’ll rest assured that your Git data is protected.
Collaborate on CI Workflows
Most Git servers can’t keep up with Continuous Integration (CI) workflows at enterprise scale. And that means developers are often left waiting.
Helix4Git and Helix Core integrate with your favorite build runner, like Jenkins. This means you can bring your code and non-code assets into your build pipeline. Your resulting build artifacts can be managed and versioned in Helix Core. Your developers can get the feedback they need more efficiently — without switching tools.
Enforce Code Review Processes
It’s difficult to enforce code review processes when you’re dealing with multiple repositories and dependences. And most Git projects require a code review before the code is committed to the main development branch.
Using Helix TeamHub makes it easy to do multirepo code reviews — and enforce Git code review processes. That’s because Helix TeamHub helps you account for every dependency. This ensures that your code works together, even when it’s spread across multiple repositories.
