| commit | f823de75a1f4f061c78aa6fff500f35be8d38e69 | [log] [tgz] |
|---|---|---|
| author | Johannes Sixt <j6t@kdbg.org> | Sat Aug 03 17:22:51 2024 +0200 |
| committer | Johannes Sixt <j6t@kdbg.org> | Sat Aug 03 18:56:35 2024 +0200 |
| tree | 86d3969582346463b4de15414e74ea57a2b9c794 | |
| parent | 2864e855932540c3ec6c9bf41ee3fe027d85f642 [diff] |
git-gui: Remove forced rescan of stat-dirty files. It is possible that stat information of tracked files is modified without actually modifying the content. Plumbing commands would detect such files as modified, so that Git GUI runs `git update-info --refresh` in order to synchronize the cached stat info with the reality. However, this can be an expensive operation in large repositories. As remediation, e534f3a88676 (git-gui: Allow the user to disable update-index --refresh during rescan, 2006-11-07) introduced an option to skip the expensive part. The option was named "trust file modification timestamp". But the catch is that sometimes file timestamps can't be trusted. In this case, a file would remain listed in Unstaged Changes although there are no changes. So 16403d0b1f9d (git-gui: Refresh a file if it has an empty diff, 2006-11-11) introduced a popup message informing the user about the situation and then removed the file from the Unstaged Changes list. Now users had to click away the message box for every file that was stat-dirty. Under the assumption that a file in such a state is not the only one, 124355d32c06 (git-gui: Always start a rescan on an empty diff, 2007-01-22) introduced a forced (potentially expensive) refresh that would de-list all stat-dirty files after the first notification was dismissed. Along came 6c510bee2013 (Lazy man's auto-CRLF, 2007-02-13) in Git. It introduced a new case where a file in the worktree can have no essential differences to the staged version, but still be detected as modified by plumbing commands. This time, however, the index cannot be synchronized fully by `git update-index --refresh`, so that the file remains listed in Unstaged Changes until it is staged manually. Needless to say that the message box now becomes an annoyance, because it must be dismissed every time an affected file is selected, and the file remains listed nevertheless. Remove the message box. Write the notice that no differences were found in the diff panel instead. Also include a link that, when clicked, initiates the rescan. With this scheme, the rescan does not happen automatically anymore, but requires an additional click. (This is now two clicks in total for users who encounter stat-dirty files after enabling the "trust file modification timestamps" option.) However, users whom the rescan does not help (autocrlf-related dirty files) save half the clicks because there is no message box to dismiss. Signed-off-by: Johannes Sixt <j6t@kdbg.org>
Git GUI allows you to use the Git source control management tools via a GUI. This includes staging, committing, adding, pushing, etc. It can also be used as a blame viewer, a tree browser, and a citool (make exactly one commit before exiting and returning to shell). More details about Git GUI can be found in its manual page by either running man git-gui, or by visiting the online manual page.
Git GUI was initially written by Shawn O. Pearce, and is distributed with the standard Git installation.
You need to have the following dependencies installed before you begin:
Most of Git GUI is written in Tcl, so there is no compilation involved. Still, some things do need to be done (mostly some substitutions), so you do need to “build” it.
You can build Git GUI using:
make
And then install it using:
make install
You probably need to have root/admin permissions to install.
The project is currently maintained by Johannes Sixt at https://github.com/j6t/git-gui. Even though the project is hosted at GitHub, the development does not happen over GitHub Issues and Pull Requests. Instead, an email based workflow is used. The Git mailing list git@vger.kernel.org is where the patches are discussed and reviewed.
More information about the Git mailing list and instructions to subscribe can be found here.
Since the development happens over email, you need to send in your commits in text format. Commits can be converted to emails via the two tools provided by Git: git-send-email and git-format-patch.
You can use git-format-patch to generate patches in mbox format from your commits that can then be sent via email. Let's say you are working on a branch called ‘foo’ that was created on top of ‘master’. You can run:
git format-patch -o output_dir master..foo
to convert all the extra commits in ‘foo’ into a set of patches saved in the folder output_dir.
If you are sending multiple patches, it is recommended to include a cover letter. A cover letter is an email explaining in brief what the series is supposed to do. A cover letter template can be generated by passing --cover-letter to git-format-patch.
After you send your patches, you might get a review suggesting some changes. Make those changes, and re-send your patch(es) in reply to the first patch of your initial version. Also please mention the version of the patch. This can be done by passing -v X to git-format-patch, where ‘X’ is the version number of the patch(es).
You can use git-send-email to send patches generated via git-format-patch. While you can directly send patches via git-send-email, it is recommended that you first use git-format-patch to generate the emails, audit them, and then send them via git-send-email.
A pretty good guide to configuring and using git-send-email can be found here.
If your email client supports sending mbox format emails, you can use git-format-patch to get an mbox file for each commit, and then send them. If there is more than one patch in the series, then all patches after the first patch (or the cover letter) need to be sent as replies to the first. git-send-email does this by default.
Since some people prefer a GitHub pull request based workflow, they can use GitGitGadget to send in patches. The tool was originally written for sending patches to the Git project, but it now also supports sending patches for git-gui.
Instructions for using GitGitGadget to send git-gui patches, courtesy of Johannes Schindelin:
If you don't already have a fork of the git/git repo, you need to make one. Then clone your fork:
git clone https://github.com/<your-username>/git
Then add GitGitGadget as a remote:
git remote add gitgitgadget https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git
Then fetch the git-gui branch:
git fetch gitgitgadget git-gui/master
Then create a new branch based on git-gui/master:
git checkout -b <your-branch-name> git-gui/master
Make whatever commits you need to, push them to your fork, and then head over to https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/pulls and open a Pull Request targeting git-gui/master.
GitGitGadget will welcome you with a (hopefully) helpful message.
You need to sign off your commits before sending them to the list. You can do that by passing the -s option to git-commit. You can also use the “Sign Off” option in Git GUI.
A sign-off is a simple ‘Signed-off-by: A U Thor <author@example.com>’ line at the end of the commit message, after your explanation of the commit.
A sign-off means that you are legally allowed to send the code, and it serves as a certificate of origin. More information can be found at developercertificate.org.
It is quite likely your patches will get review comments. Those comments are sent on the Git mailing list as replies to your patch, and you will usually be Cc'ed in those replies.
You are expected to respond by either explaining your code further to convince the reviewer what you are doing is correct, or acknowledge the comments and re-send the patches with those comments addressed.
Some tips for those not familiar with communication on a mailing list: