Prevent overriding of file accept for git operations

Question

I collaborate coding with someone who is not so tech-savy and prefers to edit files directly on the server, which usually leads to a mess. I advised him to use a version controll sytem (git) instead, but he seems to be reluctant. Is there a way to prevent the respective files to be overriden by him, except for changes that come through git?

Unfortunately, I don't have full control over the system and there is only one user available, so what I cannot do is to change the rights according to the user and access git via the more powerful user.

Answer 1

You could create a cron-job that reverts any changes on the server every 5 minutes or so. That way manually editing files on the server will have an effect, but only a shortlived one.

But I agree with people in the comments that this looks more like an organizational problem.