Re: Switching from CVS to GIT

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Cc: Make Windows <address@hidden>,
>  bug-make <address@hidden>
> From: Benoit SIGOURE <address@hidden>
> Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2007 22:09:56 +0200
> 
> > Is there a good native Windows port of GIT?
> 
> http://git.or.cz/gitwiki/WindowsInstall

Thanks, I already found that page.  However, it sounds like it only
points to the source (is that right?), and I'm not sure what do I do
to download the sources, even if I wanted it.  There's no Download
link that leads me to some tarball or installer.

I'd prefer binaries, as building from sources is notoriously
problematic for MinGW ports of complex packages (they usually need
many tools to be installed and configured before the build will run to
completion, and the setup of those tools is not well documented).  But
I don't see a pointer to a binary distribution.

> Git was designed the way we're used to design traditional UNIX  
> programs: lots of small programs, each performing a simple task.   
> Most of the "low level commands" (called "plumbing") are wrapped up  
> in nicer, higher level interfaces ("porcelain"), and they happen to  
> be written in Shell script (for many of them at least).  So I don't  
> think you can seriously use Git without having at least a minimal  
> POSIX environment.

Yes, and therein is my gripe: lots of shell scripts means I need a
good port of a Unixy shell and other associated utilities that are
routinely invoked by shell scripts.  I do have these installed, but I
really don't want to stress-test their compatibility each time I need
to commit a change or update my sandbox.

> On the other hand, Git has lots of GUIs, one of which (qgit) is  
> written with Qt.  Therefore, if it was written properly, it ought to  
> work on Windows too (thanks Qt!).  Gitk should also probably work  
> (Tcl/Tk works on Windows AFAIK).  I don't know about git-gui.

I don't think I need to worry about a GUI front end, since Emacs
already supports GIT.  But again, having commands that need a Unixy
shell will make things harder, even with Emacs, because it by default
invokes the stock Windows shell.

That is why I asked Paul why he wanted to switch: Make is not a large
package, and its group of developers is quite small to expose the
problems with CVS.