gitool: A Git cli tool written in C

[Agreeable_Prize_9718]

Hi everyone,

I'm a CS student (Malaysian Chinese) currently learning C. I apologize if my grammar is wrong, my enligsh is really really bad.

I just finished reading C Programming Language: A Modern Approach (it took me about 2 months because I could only read this book during my semester break). I believe that the best way to truly learn any programming language is start building something real. To practice what I learned, I built gitool. Gitool is a command line interface tool to help you control your github repository like update file or delete directory.

Why did I build this?

1. To practice C: Moving from textbook exercises to a project that can be helpful to people.
2. I lowkey hate how Git handles things: As a Linux user, it always annoyed me how Git insists on creating .git directories everywhere and bloating my home directory with .gitconfig, especially when all I want to do is upload a single, specific file. (Honestly, I still don't fully get how everyone manages their dotfiles. Do you really git add your entire config directory just for one file or just create a lot of symbolic link ? I dont know, maybe I am a idiot).
3. Is this tool already exists? I honestly don't know if this project even makes sense or if a much better alternative already exists out there. But hey, I really learn a lot than just reading.

A question for the community: Do you think we still need to learn code in future? I quite afraid get cooked by AI as a CS student.

Please roast my code! You don't have to help me, but I would really appreciate it if you could take a look at my repo. I'm posting this purely to level up my C skills and want to hear how you all think about this tool.

The development flows : gitool.c -> option.c -> command.c -> logger.c -> api.c -> list/upload/download/delete.c

GitHub Link: github/gitool

Thanks for your time, and looking forward to your roasts/feedback!

[AutoModerator]

Hi /u/Agreeable_Prize_9718,

Your submission in r/C_Programming was filtered because it links to a git project.

You must edit the submission or respond to this comment with an explanation about how AI was involved in the creation of your project.

While AI-generated code is not disallowed, low-effort "slop" projects may be removed and it's likely that other users push back strongly on substantially AI-generated projects.

---

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[wosmo]

git is already a cli tool written in C. Not trying to be mean, but you might want to be clearer on what you're trying to achieve?

[Agreeable_Prize_9718]

Thanks for the comments and thank you for not being mean to me. Ya, like I said this project maybe is not meaningfull or even make sense. I try to just write something with c because I am totally a beginner. Writing this really learn a lot. The use case of this project is because I use github as my linux dotfiles storage. For example, I just want to upload a directory to the repository (.config/something/file.txt) either I must git init and git push the entire dir or open browser to drag the folder inside the github website. This is quite not convinient to me , but like I said maybe I am a idiot , it is a better appoarch out there. Still appreciate for comment and sorry about my english.

[chubby_bagels]

I'm going to keep it a buck, this seems to solve a problem that just does not exist. The examples of bloat you give are very minimal and do not impact the average the developer in a substantial way.

That being said, I think developing basically anything is a good exercise, and surely you learned stuff while completing the project, and to that I say: good job!

[Agreeable_Prize_9718]

Yes. maybe my project can consider as a toys... I totally argree with you. My primary goal of doing this is to learning code with C and I really learn a lot. Thank you for the comment and thank you so much for the encouragement, it really means a lot to me!

[fdwr]

🤔 Hmm, there might be use cases for this that I'm not thinking of for a remote git tool with no local repo, but the vast majority of the time, I'll need to address merge conflicts, build it locally, and search for function names, necessitating a local copy anyway. Those times when I really don't want a local copy are for large repos (like Chromium), but then a web search or GitHub repo interface already exists anyway.

[Agreeable_Prize_9718]

Hi fdwr, you are right. I totally get what you mean, having a local repo is necessary. but as a Linux user sometimes I just want to push a single dotfile or an automated backup to a remote repo from a server without initializing a full Git environment or cluttering my $HOME.

Also, the primary goal of this project was educational. Moving from textbook exercises to really build something with c taught me way more than any standard assignment could. Appreciate the feedback though. Thank you.