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What is the experience (good or bad) using Git for version control relating to how well different releases of Git work together?
To cut a short story long:
I am considering Git for some planned home projects, but due to my hodge-podge range of setups using default packages from repositories will mean being a full point release different. I plan to keep a master repository (which other people may be reading and branching from) on a server that runs Ubuntu 8.04 which means v1.5.x if I use the pakages from the standard repository (that may get upgraded to 10.04 in the coming months, which would mean the Git packages upgrading to 1.7.x), but my netbook runs the newer 9.10 which has Git v1.6.x. My main Windows machine I've not decided what to do with yet (as there is no package management to use it could either get any version directly, or I might use an Ubuntu VM for development).
As an extra complication, I'm likely to want to interact with a couple of projects currently on GitHub too (and perhaps drop some of my code there too as I intend for it to be open-source software).
I'm happy to compile up my own copies of what-ever version is best (i.e. the stable version closest what GitHub runs, presumably 1.7.x) if that is the only reliable way to proceed, but if I'm unlikely to experience problems pulling changes between 1.5/1.6/1.7 then I'd prefer to keep to the standard repository versions to make updates/upgrades of Git as painless as possible.
I've not found any reference to this after a few searches, which leads me to believe cross-version compatibility is good (if there were significant problems I'd expect there to be obvious mention in the release notes and to find posts in various places from people asking how to deal with issues).
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It's extremely backward compatible in terms of the actual storage of information, which is all you're worried about in this case.
Git v2. 0.0 is a backward-incompatible release, which means you should expect differences since the v1. x series.
The latest version is 2.33.0, which was released about 1 year ago, on 2021-08-30.
Here’s how to check which Git you’re currently using, and how to update it to the latest version. The command to check which version of Git you’re using is the same on both Windows and Mac. To check your Git version, open Command Prompt (Windows) , Terminal (Mac), or the Linux terminal. The Git version you’re currently using will be returned.
Git hasn’t introduced changes that would cause backwards compatibility issues. However, we still recommend that you stay up to date with Git in your local environment. If you encounter any issues with Git interacting with the website, first, ensure your environment is up to date.
Keeping your Git installation up to date is essential, as it gives you all the latest features, improvements, bug fixes, and more. Here’s how to check which Git you’re currently using, and how to update it to the latest version. The command to check which version of Git you’re using is the same on both Windows and Mac.
Jakub mentions herea few features that may be not supported depending on your Git version, but there shouldn't be any incompatibility issue in term of "older version which could not be able to deal with repository created with newer version". Git 1.5.x, 1.6.x and 1.7.x should all manage the same repository without any problems.
When it come to the repository format and layout, I believe the last change was from Git 1.4.3 to 1.5.0.
Jakub mentions here a few features that may be not supported depending on your Git version, but there shouldn't be any incompatibility issue in term of "older version which could not be able to deal with repository created with newer version".
Git 1.5.x, 1.6.x and 1.7.x should all manage the same repository without any problems.
Update 2017: I confirm a git repo 2.x still works with a git repo 1.7
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