7 ms·

One example of this is the popular version control system (VCS) called git. Developers could have written this software to work on Windows, but they didn't. The

by yoran 9y ago

One example of this is the popular version control system (VCS) called git. Developers could have written this software to work on Windows, but they didn't. They wrote it to work on the command line for Linux because it was the ecosystem which already had all the tools they needed. I think the real (and even stronger) reason is that Linus Torvalds specifically built Git to serve as the VCS for the Linux codebase.

lucideer 9y ago
That and the fact that Mercurial worked on Windows renders this line very poorly researched. Then again, perhaps the author, like the title, learned just enough to write the article.
BeetleB 9y ago
>I think the real (and even stronger) reason is that Linus Torvalds specifically built Git to serve as the VCS for the Linux codebase. Mercurial was built for exactly the same reason (VCS for Linux), at the same time. Yet it has always been cross-platform. Linus wrote it for Linux because he didn't care about whether it would work in Windows. No other reason.
- jmiserez 9y ago
  And who could fault him for that. After all, why would he care or even want to invest time to make it run on Windows? It’s GPL, anyone can port it if they want to. Git for Windows and Cygwin Git have some issues (I use them daily at work), but many of these can be entirely attributed to the limitations of Windows: CRLF, case-insensitivity in filesystems, problems with long pathnames, slow process forking, etc.
vinniejames 9y ago
Yes, he has said this in interviews. Great write up! I too keep a list of helpful commands handy: https://github.com/vinniejames/koopa-troopa https://github.com/vinniejames/koopa-troopa adding a link to yours
recursive 9y ago
And git does work on Windows. There's even a windows logo on the official download page. https://www.git-scm.com/downloads https://www.git-scm.com/downloads
- lucideer 9y ago
  The originally released Git did not run on Windows. The first Windows-compatible release was msysgit, which was effectively a mingw/msys Linux emulation layer for Windows. Not quite native, but it worked. Kind of. Not really very well at first. The current Windows download - "Git for Windows" - is still msys-based, just with a lot of compatibility/package-management/ux-polish changes. All that and the fact that recent Windows includes Windows Subsystem for Linux make the differentiation somewhat moot, but, essentially, Git is a *nix app.
  - recursive 9y ago
    Here's the full quote: "What resulted was an expansive suite of programs and utilities (collectively, software) that were written in Linux, for Linux - much of which was never ported to Windows. One example of this is the popular version control system (VCS) called git. Developers could have written this software to work on Windows, but they didn't. " It's just wrong.
    - lucideer 9y ago
      Technically it's correct. It's just really odd in tone; it almost sounds like it's unusual or negative that these utilities were not written to be completely cross-platform, as if that would be a norm.
      - recursive 9y ago
        But git is not an example of software that wasn't ported to windows. It was ported to windows.
        9y ago
thomastjeffery 9y ago
The real reason is that cmd.exe is nothing like bash/zsh/csh/etc. Every OS except Windows can use bash (or an equivalent shell) natively. There is no advantage to writing another interface to git that is directly compatible with cmd or powershell.
gcb0 9y ago
Linus wrote it with the code library interface only in mind. the cli was a hodgepodge just to access the interface, and i bet he had a bunch of other specialized hacky binaries that he used for his day to day tasks.

by yoran 9y ago

lucideer 9y ago

That and the fact that Mercurial worked on Windows renders this line very poorly researched. Then again, perhaps the author, like the title, learned just enough to write the article.

BeetleB 9y ago

>I think the real (and even stronger) reason is that Linus Torvalds specifically built Git to serve as the VCS for the Linux codebase. Mercurial was built for exactly the same reason (VCS for Linux), at the same time. Yet it has always been cross-platform. Linus wrote it for Linux because he didn't care about whether it would work in Windows. No other reason.

jmiserez 9y ago
And who could fault him for that. After all, why would he care or even want to invest time to make it run on Windows? It’s GPL, anyone can port it if they want to. Git for Windows and Cygwin Git have some issues (I use them daily at work), but many of these can be entirely attributed to the limitations of Windows: CRLF, case-insensitivity in filesystems, problems with long pathnames, slow process forking, etc.

vinniejames 9y ago

Yes, he has said this in interviews. Great write up! I too keep a list of helpful commands handy: https://github.com/vinniejames/koopa-troopa https://github.com/vinniejames/koopa-troopa adding a link to yours

recursive 9y ago

And git does work on Windows. There's even a windows logo on the official download page. https://www.git-scm.com/downloads https://www.git-scm.com/downloads

lucideer 9y ago
The originally released Git did not run on Windows. The first Windows-compatible release was msysgit, which was effectively a mingw/msys Linux emulation layer for Windows. Not quite native, but it worked. Kind of. Not really very well at first. The current Windows download - "Git for Windows" - is still msys-based, just with a lot of compatibility/package-management/ux-polish changes. All that and the fact that recent Windows includes Windows Subsystem for Linux make the differentiation somewhat moot, but, essentially, Git is a *nix app.
- recursive 9y ago
  Here's the full quote: "What resulted was an expansive suite of programs and utilities (collectively, software) that were written in Linux, for Linux - much of which was never ported to Windows. One example of this is the popular version control system (VCS) called git. Developers could have written this software to work on Windows, but they didn't. " It's just wrong.
  - lucideer 9y ago
    Technically it's correct. It's just really odd in tone; it almost sounds like it's unusual or negative that these utilities were not written to be completely cross-platform, as if that would be a norm.
    - recursive 9y ago
      But git is not an example of software that wasn't ported to windows. It was ported to windows.
      - 9y ago

thomastjeffery 9y ago

The real reason is that cmd.exe is nothing like bash/zsh/csh/etc. Every OS except Windows can use bash (or an equivalent shell) natively. There is no advantage to writing another interface to git that is directly compatible with cmd or powershell.

gcb0 9y ago

Linus wrote it with the code library interface only in mind. the cli was a hodgepodge just to access the interface, and i bet he had a bunch of other specialized hacky binaries that he used for his day to day tasks.