Switching to Git?

Lirodon · 2010-03-10 12:59:08

I've noticed someone brought up the advantages of Git in the world of open source development in the MeeGo thread, so I'm just wondering, think we should move the repository to Gitorious or something? Right now, that site is starting to catch up, mainly because that's where the Qt libraries are hosted.

We'll have to convert the repository, but that shouldn't take too much effort, right?

Meow · 2010-03-10 13:01:26

phpBB has also switched to Git several days ago.

Reines · 2010-03-10 13:01:56

If this had been brought up a month or 2 ago, I'd have been pushing for the change.

However we have very nearly finished revamping the website and setting up the new server, which we have been assuming would still be using SVN/Trac. A switch to Git would require us to rethink our plans and scrap some of our work.

Saying that, if there was to be a change, assuming we cannot travel back in time, now would be the time to do it before we go to the bother of actually moving the old SVN over to the new server.

Despite the extra work I would probably still vote for Git, on the condition that it has a good web interface we can use to replace Trac (whether it would be locally on the FluxBB server or hosted by Github or something like that would be another thing needing decided on).

FSX · 2010-03-10 13:03:44

I don't think converting SVN to Git takes much effort.

But it's just a proposal at the moment. Nothing is decided yet.

Reines · 2010-03-10 13:05:50

Bing?!?

FSX · 2010-03-10 13:08:06

Reines wrote:

Bing?!?

It's the default search engine of my Chromium install. Dunno why it is, but it works good enough.

qie · 2010-03-10 13:11:22

hey what make the difference?

FSX · 2010-03-10 13:12:42

This?

Reines · 2010-03-10 13:15:55

this actually looks like quite a nice web interface to Git that could be integrated into the new site much more easily than Trac since its PHP based. It doesn't have things such as bug tracking (tickets) or a built in Wiki, but we haven't been very good about actually using tickets much in the past so that may be a good thing.

markc · 2010-03-10 13:19:30

Drupal is also changing to Git. The only other contender was bzr backed by Canonical (Ubuntu) but it seems many times more developers already had Git experience as opposed to bzr, or mercurial, so Git ruled the decision.

The easiest transition is to start using Gitorious (or Github) sooner than later and keep trac for bug reporting until such time as everyone is settled in and then perhaps consider another dedicated bug tracker. When it comes to hosting Git on your own servers then have a look at "cgit" (C cgi, fast with caching) until perhaps Drupal offers a PHP based project interface to Git. Otherwise Gitorious is open source but it's based on Ruby on Rails. Github is arguably a bit slicker and easier to use than Gitorious, it also has a nice feature where any README.mk in Markdown format is automatically presented on any commits page. OTOH Gitorious has a very nice "teams" interface which is better for multiple developers. Qt is already at Gitorious and KDE is moving there (unless the sky falls in) so projects of their size and number of developers can be handled.

Unfortunately there is no light and easy trac-clone for Git yet.

Example of a Cgit interface -> http://cgit.freedesktop.org/

Last edited by markc (2010-03-10 13:24:00)

Paul · 2010-03-10 13:26:15

Reines: If you think Git is the way to go for future development then it would be kind of short sighted to tie yourself to SVN now. You might even find yourself in the position of using SVN for 1.4 and Git for future versions which would be a mess. If speed is of the essence why not go for a third party service in the short term and then investigate how to bring it onto your own server at your leisure.

markc · 2010-03-10 13:55:52

http://gitorious.org/fluxbb/fluxbb

Took me about 1/2 hour. Basically, sign up for an account and upload a ssh-keygen key, create a project (apologies for "stealing" the namespace, I can delete it when ready), create a local ~/.ssh/config entry for gitorious.org then in a shell...

git config --global user.name "Your name"
git config --global user.email "your@email"
git svn clone http://fluxbb.org/svn/fluxbb/trunk/ fluxbb # allow ~15 mins
cd fluxbb
git remote add origin git@gitorious.org:fluxbb/fluxbb.git
git push origin master

Done. Gitorious includes a Wiki interface for each project.

Reines · 2010-03-10 14:04:56

Gitorious actually looks very nice.

markc · 2010-03-10 14:41:42

http://github.com/markc/fluxbb/commits/master

Here is the same thing at Github. All I did was create a new repo at Github and change one line in my local ~/fluxbb/.git/config file to point to my account at Github instead of Gitorious and did another git push origin master. Took less than 10 minutes all up.

I'm no Git expert so it goes to show that simple things, at least, are indeed simple, especially with the likes of Gitorious and Github. There are enough tricky techniques to learn about how to best use a repo and interact with other users to kind of bother setting up a Git host from scratch. Besides, everyone who clones a repo has the entire history so it's easy to push into a dedicated Git server some time down the track after getting used to how Git works.

Reines · 2010-03-10 14:51:14

Yeah I am a fan of Git, but an issue is as far as I'm aware most of the users (and developers) here run Windows. The last time I looked, Git was fairly poorly supported on Windows. Admittedly I haven't looked for a while mind you.

markc · 2010-03-10 15:08:43

These are a bit lame, apparently, but might get the job done...

http://code.google.com/p/msysgit/
http://code.google.com/p/tortoisegit/

http://kylecordes.com/2008/04/30/git-windows-go/

FWIW I added a test README.md (in simple Markdown format) file which automatically shows up -> http://github.com/markc/fluxbb

Paul · 2010-03-10 15:46:48

I've used Tortoisegit and it seemed to work well enough.

Franz · 2010-03-10 15:47:12

Haha. This thread is what happens when developers discover a new toy

I agree that we should rather switch now than later. Though I have to say that, if possible, I'd prefer an integrated solution over a hosted one, but obviously we don't have time for that right now. Nontheless, if we find a good one, I think we should switch to an integrated version as soon as possible.

EDIT: We should still keep a bug tracker. Not using it isn't really an excuse And it is necessary at least for seeing what tasks are still left etc. No "bug reports" forum can replace that (and maybe we should consider replacing those with links to the bug tracker).

Last edited by Franz (2010-03-10 15:49:02)

Paul · 2010-03-10 15:50:39

The downside of trying to integrate everything is that you can end up spending more time developing and maintaining the site than you do the application the site is supposed to be supporting.

Franz · 2010-03-10 15:51:52

Obviously integrating shouldn't be such big of a task (as it is for Trac, for example). But for PHP applications it should be fairly easy. We don't have to write our own bug tracker

EDIT: Oh, and while we're at it, could somebody post a good tutorial for git? I've heard quite a lot of it and know the theory, but I realize there's much more to it...

Last edited by Franz (2010-03-10 16:01:01)

markc · 2010-03-10 16:10:33

I agree with Paul (not that my thoughts count). Switching mindset to Git takes some time and Gitorious is nice enough to just go with it's flow for a few months, until 1.4 is out the door, then focus on your own integrated setup after getting some experience with an established system like Gitorious. Perhaps setup a simple PHP bug tracker like Flyspray to compliment the use of Gitorious (which includes a wiki).

FSX · 2010-03-10 17:15:31

Franz wrote:

EDIT: Oh, and while we're at it, could somebody post a good tutorial for git? I've heard quite a lot of it and know the theory, but I realize there's much more to it...

Here's a book: http://progit.org/book/

markc wrote:

I agree with Paul (not that my thoughts count). Switching mindset to Git takes some time and Gitorious is nice enough to just go with it's flow for a few months, until 1.4 is out the door, then focus on your own integrated setup after getting some experience with an established system like Gitorious. Perhaps setup a simple PHP bug tracker like Flyspray to compliment the use of Gitorious (which includes a wiki).

I agree too. And it's easy enough to display repository activities on the website with an Atom feed if that's needed.

Lirodon · 2010-03-10 20:00:29

There IS a Git plugin for Trac though, though I'm not quite sure it'd work with Gitorious though.

Last edited by Lirodon (2010-03-10 20:01:20)

Reines · 2010-03-10 20:01:27

I know though I'm not actually a huge fan of Trac so an excuse to move away from it would be nice

Franz · 2010-03-10 20:57:42

And the fact that it's written in Python, doesn't make life easier, too (especially when talking about integration).

Forums

#1 2010-03-10 12:59:08

Switching to Git?

#2 2010-03-10 13:01:26

Re: Switching to Git?

#3 2010-03-10 13:01:56

Re: Switching to Git?

#4 2010-03-10 13:03:44

Re: Switching to Git?

#5 2010-03-10 13:05:50

Re: Switching to Git?

#6 2010-03-10 13:08:06

Re: Switching to Git?

#7 2010-03-10 13:11:22

Re: Switching to Git?

#8 2010-03-10 13:12:42

Re: Switching to Git?

#9 2010-03-10 13:15:55

Re: Switching to Git?

#10 2010-03-10 13:19:30

Re: Switching to Git?

#11 2010-03-10 13:26:15

Re: Switching to Git?

#12 2010-03-10 13:55:52

Re: Switching to Git?

#13 2010-03-10 14:04:56

Re: Switching to Git?

#14 2010-03-10 14:41:42

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#15 2010-03-10 14:51:14

Re: Switching to Git?

#16 2010-03-10 15:08:43

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#17 2010-03-10 15:46:48

Re: Switching to Git?

#18 2010-03-10 15:47:12

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#19 2010-03-10 15:50:39

Re: Switching to Git?

#20 2010-03-10 15:51:52

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#21 2010-03-10 16:10:33

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#22 2010-03-10 17:15:31

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#23 2010-03-10 20:00:29

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#24 2010-03-10 20:01:27

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#25 2010-03-10 20:57:42

Re: Switching to Git?

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