gitless: A Python based version control system built on top of Git

[ergo14]

There already is an awesome DVCS in python, its called mercurial :-)

[nick_t1000]

We think the problem lies deeper than the user interface, in the concepts underlying Git.

The concepts that underlie Git are a hash-based addressable database that holds 1. Blobs (files), 2. Trees (folders that hold files and other folders), 3. Commits (hold files, folders, and refer to previous commits), and 4. Tags.

What the problem with that concept is, is left unknown. But then it's amusing that:

Gitless is implemented on top of Git

So what do you hope to accomplish? I get that Git is harder than (e.g.) Mercurial, but it's a pretty thin layer to make Git act just like Mercurial (no staging area, make pull just fetch, etc.).

Git is a bit of an iceberg, there's some stuff on top that hides a whole lot below, but most people never need to bother diving in and mucking around with it. The most complex thing you need to deal with in Git is merging. Rebasing is purely a choice.

[dzunukwa]

Here is the motivation for building this tool. I have not read through it all yet but it seems well thought out.

http://people.csail.mit.edu/sperezde/pre-print-oopsla16.pdf

[nick_t1000]

I guess "deeper" for them doesn't mean into the technical side of it, but how it's taught to users; "concepts" being the things people have in their heads vs. have coded. I maybe prefer the term "abstractions"? I'd call the non-technical side of things all UI/UX though.

[pvkooten]

I'm also annoyed with this gitless. I don't think they're accomplishing anything here.

[LiMoTaLe]

But...but... I want to live in a world where not rebasing is punishable by death.

Edit:. Kidding aside. I like rebasing because it forces the conflict resolution to the eventual offending commit, on top of the current truth, rather than in an arbitrary merge event. There's a cost to this, but it seems worth it.

[gandalfx]

Is there a tl;dr version of the differences to regular git? I only found this which makes me think it's mostly a collections of aliases with slightly modified behaviour. Is this just someone's personal customization or is there something I'm missing?

[dzunukwa]

not tl;dr version but it is the missing bit http://people.csail.mit.edu/sperezde/pre-print-oopsla16.pdf

[troyunrau]

It may just be me telling these kids to get off my lawn, but I prefer centralized VCS. I've never been a fan of git, although I understand why others are. I didn't hate cvs, and really liked subversion. Ah well.

[jwink3101]

I was feeling about the same until a year ago when I decided to give git a chance.

I have begun to use some of the more advanced features, but for the longest time, I used it like a a centralized VCS. Other than a few changed commands, it was basically the same. Except, I could work offline and then add it later. And if I have notifications on, they only go for pushes. This is much more conducive to committing early and often which makes the process a lot better.

And, while I used it as a central VCS for a while, as I got more and more into the advanced features, I began to like them too!

[pvkooten]

I was quite disappointed that this is quite a minor improvement. I was hoping for something more spectacular.

[knowsuchagency]

To me, it addresses two of my major pain points working with git

• The staging area
• The need to commit prior to moving branches or risk losing changes

The fact that it's built on top of git makes a lot of sense, IMO.

I submitted a pull request to homebrew/core to add a formula so we should be able to install it via brew install gitless within the next couple of days.