13 ms·

Its a shame that a Linux version is not included. A significant volume of developers work on Linux. If doing a multi platform application, why exclude it?

by harel 11y ago

Bulk70 11y ago
As strange as it sounds the lack of a decent git GUI is one of the reasons I don't feel comfortable using Linux as my main development environment (not the only reason of course). It's a big pitty neither Github nor Atlassian (the big "git" players, in my mind) seem inclined to release a GUI client for Linux.
- cryon 11y ago
  I feel like most GNU/Linux users (especially developers) are comfortable enough using cli tool for this to be a non issue.
  - AndrewDucker 11y ago
    Of course they are. The people who aren't comfortable enough using a CLI stay clear of Linux.
    - MNOLJNDRDY 11y ago
      I think that's a poor excuse for not having a linux version. By that logic, we wouldn't have sublime because vim/emacs should be enough. As I see it, the main reason I like to use linux on my development boxes is flexibility(or call it freedom if you want, I don't like doing so). I can do things in whatever way works best for me and I can create scripts/install packages to glue stuff together fairly easily to adapt to my workflow.
      - AndrewDucker 11y ago
        That was rather my point. It's not that Linux doesn't need UIs because their users all use CLIs, it's that it's users all user CLIs because anyone who'd like a nice UI stays well away.
      - cryon 11y ago
        I never said anything about removing existing software (such as sublime). I was talking about there being less incentive to create a git gui for a user base that is - from my experience - happy with the current cli interface or any other already existing client (such as magit for emacs).
- mrsuprawsm 11y ago
  I think learning the fundamentals of the git command line is pretty simple, and pays large dividends. Indeed, learning to use git was one of the main things that spurred me to learn to use the command line for many other tasks. It's a good starting point.
  - Bulk70 11y ago
    I'm very comfortable with the command line in general already, and if I have to I can use git on the command line. I've just always felt a GUI is the best interface for git - personal preference I suppose. I'm a very visual person when it comes to code, and being able to see a nice history/diff etc inline with a few clicks just sits better with how I view the world & my ideal workflow. I appreciate I'm probably in the minority on that though, as evidenced by the lack of client from those two big players I assume they feel that way too!
    - MNOLJNDRDY 11y ago
      Exactly, I feel the same. By default, git commit just shows me "M /src/foo/whatever", I prefer to use a GUI where I can then click on that and it shows me a nice fullscreen visual diff with colour highlighting etc. Just works a lot better for me in being productive and reviewing things before I commit(an essential part of any workflow)
      - thruflo 11y ago
        Try `git add -p`
        hueving 11y ago
        or `git diff`
    - shampine 11y ago
      I also prefer a nice visual diff and branching so usually depending on what project I am working in I always have Gitlab or Github open in my browser. Everything else is done on the CLI.
- nanny 11y ago
  Try the Magit package for Emacs [1]. You don't have to know (much) Emacs to use it, and it's a really great client. [1]: https://github.com/magit/magit https://github.com/magit/magit
  - agumonkey 11y ago
    git cherry picking was nice, under magit it's even better.
  - zachlatta 11y ago
    Magit is AWESOME. It's easily saved me an hour each day (when using git heavily).
    - agumonkey 11y ago
      Which parts do you enjoy the most ?
      - subsection1h 11y ago
        What I like most about Magit is staging, unstaging, and reverting hunks.
      - zachlatta 11y ago
        It's super easy to create a new branch and push it upstream (especially when creating PRs). I know I could write a script to do that for me, but there's something so nice about having little things like that already baked in.
- art0rz 11y ago
  I haven't found a dedicated Linux GUI client for git either, but I'm a big fan of IntelliJ's CVS support. While it supports far from everything you can do with git, its interface is excellent, and having it integrated with your editor is a big plus.
  - UserRights 11y ago
    smartgit is very nice, but there are many mnore GUI clients on linux you can find very easily.
- davexunit 11y ago
  Magit is the best Git UI in existence.
- MNOLJNDRDY 11y ago
  I use http://rabbitvcs.org/ http://rabbitvcs.org/ (it's a nautilus plugin, so basically it's got the TortoiseSVN style context menu interface), and find it great. Having said that, my main work is with SVN, only use git for interacting with open source projects I need to submit PRs to etc.
- h078 11y ago
  Git cola is very good on linux http://git-cola.github.io/ http://git-cola.github.io/
  - davvid 11y ago
    git-cola runs on Mac OS X and Windows too. It's also very vim-ish / keyboard-centric, which is a big plus if you hate using a mouse, but still like to visually stage things. https://github.com/git-cola/git-cola https://github.com/git-cola/git-cola
- macco 11y ago
  There are several GUIs for git on Linux. GitG comes to mind. But there are several others - also with github integration. https://git-scm.com/download/gui/linux https://git-scm.com/download/gui/linux
- tom9729 11y ago
  Gitg (https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Gitg/ https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Gitg/) looks decent, although it's Linux-only. It's like git-gui and gitk merged into a GTK3 interface. It would be cool if Atlassian would open-source their client (SourceTree). They make money off of Bitbucket/Stash and provide SourceTree as freeware, so it seems like a no-brainer to open-source it and let the community port it to Linux.
- rimantas 11y ago
  How about SmartGit? Back in the days when I was working on Windows and Linux I used SmartSVN, quite nice for a Java app.
JeremyMorgan 11y ago
It's likely they felt it's not worth the time since most Linux users are using the CLI for everything else, and likely wouldn't be interested in a GUI. Personally I've never used the Github GUI and have no plans to, running the commands is fast and easy.
- zxcvcxz 11y ago
  I think it's a myth that Linux users aren't interested in GUI tools. According to stack overflow statistics, Ubuntu is the most popular Linux based OS amongst developers, which is an OS that is much more GUI based than say Arch linux. According to the same stats, Linux and OS X usage is statistically tied at ~21%. If you take into account the fact that only about 2% of computer users run Linux at all it's pretty clear that programmers disproportionately prefer Linux (and to a lesser extent OS X) to other systems. I personally have already moved away from github, but I still wish they would build some tools that work on Linux.
  - etwigg 11y ago
    Shameless plug: I recently built a new linux GUI git client. The people who use it really like it. Still working on docs to better explain what makes it different. Like GitHub's client, it's more than just a wrapper around the CLI, but unlike GitHub's client it exposes git's full power (tags, cherry-pick, rebase, etc.) If you'd like to try a new linux gui client, give it a spin! Video in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4UQpGk1Ry8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4UQpGk1Ry8 Free download Win/Mac/Linux: https://secure.diffplug.com/versions/1.6.1 https://secure.diffplug.com/versions/1.6.1
    - Nux 11y ago
      You should publish some screenshots of it.
      - etwigg 11y ago
        100% agree! Was hoping to have the full manual done today, but it's not ready yet. Kinda worked out - I'll spend today ducking as the GitHub goliath whooshes over me for HN readership's attention ;-). The rest of the product's docs are complete and full of screenshots: https://docs.diffplug.com/1.6.1/ViewerDiffers/TextViewerDiffer/ https://docs.diffplug.com/1.6.1/ViewerDiffers/TextViewerDiff... so the git client will be too. This client animates changes to the DAG, so I'm experimenting with animated gifs so that the manual can capture the feel of using it.
StavrosK 11y ago
My thoughts exactly. How different from OS X can it be?
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
  - StavrosK 11y ago
    Huh? My question is "how hard is porting this to Linux, if there's already an OS X version?".
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
    - blkhp19 11y ago
      OS X and Linux are not the same OS. The entire stack for writing GUI applications is completely different - as different as writing an iOS app vs. an Android app. OS X and Linux don't share the same kernel, the same foundation frameworks, or the same UI frameworks. The entire application would have to be written from scratch. If they're really ambitious they could probably share some Objective-C business logic, but anything that touches the UI is platform specific.
      - StavrosK 11y ago
        They have a Windows version. Linux isn't less like OS X than Windows is.
        blkhp19 11y ago
        Just because you can type "sudo" on both doesn't make them similar when it comes to making GUI applications. Again, the frameworks are completely different, meaning that a complete or nearly complete rewrite would be necessary.
BinaryIdiot 11y ago
It's possible that since Linux is a smaller percentage of their user base that they prioritized the Mac OS X and Windows ports and will eventually do Linux. If I were them that's what I would do at least.
techwizrd 11y ago
I'm actually working on a Github Desktop "clone" using Electron (so that it'll be "cross-platform"). I'm also working a Gtk+3 version (since I have more experience with that), but I haven't gotten too far.
- westoque 11y ago
  Same here. Although I've already gotten somewhere. Already implemented the "History" tab. Ping me if you want to see it. Planning to open source it soon.
igravious 11y ago
Agreed. It's 2015. No excuse not to put out a Linux version. I thought those days are over. The fact that _Microsoft_ of all companies is releasing multiple developer tools on Linux these days should tell you all you need to know about this bone of contention. I'd have expected more from Github, to be honest, given Atom. On my Ubuntu at the moment the big cross-platform packages I have are: .Net platform, Visual Studio Code, Spotify client, Skype client, Viber client, Chrome, Scrivener, …
technomancy 11y ago
My guess is they don't bother with Linux systems because proper application packaging on Linux OSes is source-centric. They've made the choice not to offer their code as free software, so that would mean it would be a headache to support on systems that value software freedom.
pjmlp 11y ago
Maybe because most GNU/Linux developers seem to be happy using it as a PDP-11 with a VT100? Having used a multiple of desktop systems since the mid-80's, and lots of their main IDE systems, I could never grasp this attitude. And yes, I do my way around Emacs and Elisp (but it comes from MIT Lisp culture).

Its a shame that a Linux version is not included. A significant volume of developers work on Linux. If doing a multi platform application, why exclude it?

by harel 11y ago

Its a shame that a Linux version is not included. A significant volume of developers work on Linux. If doing a multi platform application, why exclude it?

Bulk70 11y ago

As strange as it sounds the lack of a decent git GUI is one of the reasons I don't feel comfortable using Linux as my main development environment (not the only reason of course). It's a big pitty neither Github nor Atlassian (the big "git" players, in my mind) seem inclined to release a GUI client for Linux.

cryon 11y ago
I feel like most GNU/Linux users (especially developers) are comfortable enough using cli tool for this to be a non issue.
- AndrewDucker 11y ago
  Of course they are. The people who aren't comfortable enough using a CLI stay clear of Linux.
  - MNOLJNDRDY 11y ago
    I think that's a poor excuse for not having a linux version. By that logic, we wouldn't have sublime because vim/emacs should be enough. As I see it, the main reason I like to use linux on my development boxes is flexibility(or call it freedom if you want, I don't like doing so). I can do things in whatever way works best for me and I can create scripts/install packages to glue stuff together fairly easily to adapt to my workflow.
    - AndrewDucker 11y ago
      That was rather my point. It's not that Linux doesn't need UIs because their users all use CLIs, it's that it's users all user CLIs because anyone who'd like a nice UI stays well away.
    - cryon 11y ago
      I never said anything about removing existing software (such as sublime). I was talking about there being less incentive to create a git gui for a user base that is - from my experience - happy with the current cli interface or any other already existing client (such as magit for emacs).
mrsuprawsm 11y ago
I think learning the fundamentals of the git command line is pretty simple, and pays large dividends. Indeed, learning to use git was one of the main things that spurred me to learn to use the command line for many other tasks. It's a good starting point.
- Bulk70 11y ago
  I'm very comfortable with the command line in general already, and if I have to I can use git on the command line. I've just always felt a GUI is the best interface for git - personal preference I suppose. I'm a very visual person when it comes to code, and being able to see a nice history/diff etc inline with a few clicks just sits better with how I view the world & my ideal workflow. I appreciate I'm probably in the minority on that though, as evidenced by the lack of client from those two big players I assume they feel that way too!
  - MNOLJNDRDY 11y ago
    Exactly, I feel the same. By default, git commit just shows me "M /src/foo/whatever", I prefer to use a GUI where I can then click on that and it shows me a nice fullscreen visual diff with colour highlighting etc. Just works a lot better for me in being productive and reviewing things before I commit(an essential part of any workflow)
    - thruflo 11y ago
      Try `git add -p`
      - hueving 11y ago
        or `git diff`
  - shampine 11y ago
    I also prefer a nice visual diff and branching so usually depending on what project I am working in I always have Gitlab or Github open in my browser. Everything else is done on the CLI.
nanny 11y ago
Try the Magit package for Emacs [1]. You don't have to know (much) Emacs to use it, and it's a really great client. [1]: https://github.com/magit/magit https://github.com/magit/magit
- agumonkey 11y ago
  git cherry picking was nice, under magit it's even better.
- zachlatta 11y ago
  Magit is AWESOME. It's easily saved me an hour each day (when using git heavily).
  - agumonkey 11y ago
    Which parts do you enjoy the most ?
    - subsection1h 11y ago
      What I like most about Magit is staging, unstaging, and reverting hunks.
    - zachlatta 11y ago
      It's super easy to create a new branch and push it upstream (especially when creating PRs). I know I could write a script to do that for me, but there's something so nice about having little things like that already baked in.
art0rz 11y ago
I haven't found a dedicated Linux GUI client for git either, but I'm a big fan of IntelliJ's CVS support. While it supports far from everything you can do with git, its interface is excellent, and having it integrated with your editor is a big plus.
- UserRights 11y ago
  smartgit is very nice, but there are many mnore GUI clients on linux you can find very easily.
davexunit 11y ago
Magit is the best Git UI in existence.
MNOLJNDRDY 11y ago
I use http://rabbitvcs.org/ http://rabbitvcs.org/ (it's a nautilus plugin, so basically it's got the TortoiseSVN style context menu interface), and find it great. Having said that, my main work is with SVN, only use git for interacting with open source projects I need to submit PRs to etc.
h078 11y ago
Git cola is very good on linux http://git-cola.github.io/ http://git-cola.github.io/
- davvid 11y ago
  git-cola runs on Mac OS X and Windows too. It's also very vim-ish / keyboard-centric, which is a big plus if you hate using a mouse, but still like to visually stage things. https://github.com/git-cola/git-cola https://github.com/git-cola/git-cola
macco 11y ago
There are several GUIs for git on Linux. GitG comes to mind. But there are several others - also with github integration. https://git-scm.com/download/gui/linux https://git-scm.com/download/gui/linux
tom9729 11y ago
Gitg (https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Gitg/ https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Gitg/) looks decent, although it's Linux-only. It's like git-gui and gitk merged into a GTK3 interface. It would be cool if Atlassian would open-source their client (SourceTree). They make money off of Bitbucket/Stash and provide SourceTree as freeware, so it seems like a no-brainer to open-source it and let the community port it to Linux.
rimantas 11y ago
How about SmartGit? Back in the days when I was working on Windows and Linux I used SmartSVN, quite nice for a Java app.

JeremyMorgan 11y ago

It's likely they felt it's not worth the time since most Linux users are using the CLI for everything else, and likely wouldn't be interested in a GUI. Personally I've never used the Github GUI and have no plans to, running the commands is fast and easy.

zxcvcxz 11y ago
I think it's a myth that Linux users aren't interested in GUI tools. According to stack overflow statistics, Ubuntu is the most popular Linux based OS amongst developers, which is an OS that is much more GUI based than say Arch linux. According to the same stats, Linux and OS X usage is statistically tied at ~21%. If you take into account the fact that only about 2% of computer users run Linux at all it's pretty clear that programmers disproportionately prefer Linux (and to a lesser extent OS X) to other systems. I personally have already moved away from github, but I still wish they would build some tools that work on Linux.
- etwigg 11y ago
  Shameless plug: I recently built a new linux GUI git client. The people who use it really like it. Still working on docs to better explain what makes it different. Like GitHub's client, it's more than just a wrapper around the CLI, but unlike GitHub's client it exposes git's full power (tags, cherry-pick, rebase, etc.) If you'd like to try a new linux gui client, give it a spin! Video in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4UQpGk1Ry8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4UQpGk1Ry8 Free download Win/Mac/Linux: https://secure.diffplug.com/versions/1.6.1 https://secure.diffplug.com/versions/1.6.1
  - Nux 11y ago
    You should publish some screenshots of it.
    - etwigg 11y ago
      100% agree! Was hoping to have the full manual done today, but it's not ready yet. Kinda worked out - I'll spend today ducking as the GitHub goliath whooshes over me for HN readership's attention ;-). The rest of the product's docs are complete and full of screenshots: https://docs.diffplug.com/1.6.1/ViewerDiffers/TextViewerDiffer/ https://docs.diffplug.com/1.6.1/ViewerDiffers/TextViewerDiff... so the git client will be too. This client animates changes to the DAG, so I'm experimenting with animated gifs so that the manual can capture the feel of using it.

StavrosK 11y ago

My thoughts exactly. How different from OS X can it be?

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
- StavrosK 11y ago
  Huh? My question is "how hard is porting this to Linux, if there's already an OS X version?".
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - blkhp19 11y ago
    OS X and Linux are not the same OS. The entire stack for writing GUI applications is completely different - as different as writing an iOS app vs. an Android app. OS X and Linux don't share the same kernel, the same foundation frameworks, or the same UI frameworks. The entire application would have to be written from scratch. If they're really ambitious they could probably share some Objective-C business logic, but anything that touches the UI is platform specific.
    - StavrosK 11y ago
      They have a Windows version. Linux isn't less like OS X than Windows is.
      - blkhp19 11y ago
        Just because you can type "sudo" on both doesn't make them similar when it comes to making GUI applications. Again, the frameworks are completely different, meaning that a complete or nearly complete rewrite would be necessary.

BinaryIdiot 11y ago

It's possible that since Linux is a smaller percentage of their user base that they prioritized the Mac OS X and Windows ports and will eventually do Linux. If I were them that's what I would do at least.

techwizrd 11y ago

I'm actually working on a Github Desktop "clone" using Electron (so that it'll be "cross-platform"). I'm also working a Gtk+3 version (since I have more experience with that), but I haven't gotten too far.

westoque 11y ago
Same here. Although I've already gotten somewhere. Already implemented the "History" tab. Ping me if you want to see it. Planning to open source it soon.

igravious 11y ago

Agreed. It's 2015. No excuse not to put out a Linux version. I thought those days are over. The fact that _Microsoft_ of all companies is releasing multiple developer tools on Linux these days should tell you all you need to know about this bone of contention. I'd have expected more from Github, to be honest, given Atom. On my Ubuntu at the moment the big cross-platform packages I have are: .Net platform, Visual Studio Code, Spotify client, Skype client, Viber client, Chrome, Scrivener, …

technomancy 11y ago

My guess is they don't bother with Linux systems because proper application packaging on Linux OSes is source-centric. They've made the choice not to offer their code as free software, so that would mean it would be a headache to support on systems that value software freedom.

pjmlp 11y ago

Maybe because most GNU/Linux developers seem to be happy using it as a PDP-11 with a VT100? Having used a multiple of desktop systems since the mid-80's, and lots of their main IDE systems, I could never grasp this attitude. And yes, I do my way around Emacs and Elisp (but it comes from MIT Lisp culture).