I’m wondering if you use any (graphical) clients to manage your Git, and if so, what client you use.
I myself have to use git professionally across all 3 major OS-es, and I currently use Sourcetree on Windows and macOS, and the Git tools built-in into IntelliJ on Linux.
Have given MaGit a try, but just couldn’t get all the shortcuts to stick in my mind.
Interested to hear your experiences!
I use VSCode and SourceGit. SourceGit is similar to Fork (which I’ve used before), but it’s FOSS and cross-platform (Windows/macOS/Linux).
Lazygit and magit
LazyGit and GitKraken. I try to use LazyGit as much as possible, but a few things are easier for me in GitKraken (as I’m more used to it).
Vscode and gitlens for routine stuff, and then just CLI when push comes to shove and I need some more advanced feature.
Lazy git most of the time, sourcegit for heavy duty stuff.
Github desktop, despite the name it’s just a git client. Absolutely clownish that there’s no official Linux support (there’s a fork which works perfectly). I use it to interact with self-hosted gitea, codeberg and github, pretty happy with it, I’m Aldo testing git butler
I made some automation in python for common git tasks and use the cli otherwise. I tried a couple like sourcetree and the built in automation for VS but they’re either slow or lack features i’d like.
Is Vscode a git client?
No one take from me though idk what I’m doing when it comes to programming stuff.
It is. Not as advanced as others but it still is nonetheless!
The cli because it is consistent everywhere and has all fearures
Same, because its UX is actually really good. Years ago when I was new to git, I tried to use Sourcetree to revert a merge commit, and it would just fail. When I tried it in the CLI, it still failed, but it told me how to fix it. (I needed to specify which parent)
That, plus it’s scriptable, plus I’m in the terminal a lot anyway. I’ll also use the IDE git client sometimes if that’s where I am at the moment.
The only thing I’m missing in the CLI is easy picking and choosing which change to include in a commit on a more fine grained basis than files. I sometimes have a changed file and the changes fix different issues and thus should get separate commits but with the CLI I can’t easily select the changes to be staged. At least not AFAIK.
Edit: Richards law of posting something wrong to get fast correct answers seems to stay true, even on lemmy. Thanks for teaching me something today <3
Uhhh,
git add -p?the best git command
Hard agree haha, use this one constantly.
You can via git add -i foo.bar
I believe the only issue with that is that it can only go by hunks. If your changes are sufficiently far away, you can select them separately. But if you change one function that should be in patch a, and another function 5 lines down that should be in patch b, I think you’re screwed
That being said, this is all from memory, so don’t quote me on it
In interactive add mode you can use
sto split a hunk, andeto edit it. That’s usually enough for me to split things up.I usually use
git add -pto selectively stage hunks. But ingit add -iI think running thepatchcommand does the same thing to get into patch mode.If patch mode shows you a hunk, and you only want some of the lines you can press
sto split into smaller hunks. Then you’ll be prompted whether to add each smaller hunk separately.If you want to stage a change that is on the same line as a change you don’t want to stage, or on an adjacent line, then you need to use
eto edit the hunk. Git stages whatever changes are left when you’re done editing. The file in the working tree on disk is unchanged.
Jah, mein fearures
CLI first here too, for the same reason.
I’m not above using an editor plugin if it’s simple and reliable and right there waiting, like VSCodium.
I mostly use git from the console.
- git with a bunch of aliases for common operations and making the log pretty.
- gitk when I need a UI to browse the history
- kdiff3 as mergetool
Magit is what allowed me to finally commit to switching to Git full time.
It’s such an excellent front-end for Git that I’ve known numerous workmates learn Emacs just to use Magit.
CLI with some aliases for viewing commit history and branching, or less frequently an IDE plugin
Fork !!!
It’s hands down the best git client.
It’s free as in: sublime text or winzip where they ask you once a month if you want to pay for it but you can just select: I’m still trying it out, and it gets out of your way.
- It’s got a well designed tree graph like in GitKraken except it doesn’t lag
- It’s interactive rebasing is as smooth as JJ / LazyGit, so you can edit/rename/reorder your commits except you don’t have to have to remember CLI flags since it has its own UI
- It’s lets you commit individual lines by selecting them instead of adding/removing whole hunks like Sourcetree except it isn’t filled with paper cuts where a feature breaks in an annoying way for 2 years and you have to do extra steps to keep using it how you want.
And one killer feature that I haven’t seen any other git clients handle: allowing me to stage only one side of the diff. As in: if I change a line (so it shows up as one removed line and one new line in git), I can decide to add the new line change while still keeping the old line.
So changing this:
doThing(1);into this:
doThing(2);Shows up in git as:
- doThing(1); + doThing(2);But if I still want to keep
doThing(1);, I don’t have to go back into my code to retypedoThing(1);, or do any manual copy-pasting. I can just highlight and add onlydoThing(2);to the staging area and discard the change todoThing(1);.So now the code exists as:
doThing(1); doThing(2);Now with a one-liner example like this, we could always re-enter the code again. But for larger code changes? It’s far easier to just highlight the code in the diff and say: yes to this and no to the other stuff.
And when you get used to it, it makes it really easy to split what would be large git commits into smaller related changes keeping your git history clean and easy to understand.
In case you’re interested,
git add <files> -pallows you to do this on the command line. I use it daily.I love Fork, bought the license to support the developer.
The only thing I don’t like is that there is no Linux version, asked the dev and he told me that the issue with Linux is that there are different distros with different GUI libraries so it would require multiple versions for Linux.
A bit saddened it I completely understand.
I’ll second Fork, it’s been my go to for years! Maybe I’ll pay for it one day
Lazygit.
It’s what I use when I need a bit of a UI for some things. I use the terminal mostly but Lazygit is great.
It just works really well. I don’t mind the terminal commands but lazygit makes using git just so much nicer
I mostly use
gitfrom the cli, but when I want to use a frontend, I uselazygit. (I just find it easier to use TUI for some things like only committing some of the changed files, squashing, or fixup commits.)It works great from neovim so I’ve been using it a lot more since.
GitKraken ❤️
If not present, vscode + gitlens
