6 ms·

Why Python chose Mercurial

28 points by gilaniali 16y ago

gilaniali 16y ago
There is a lighting talk of some of the reasons at PyCon 2009. http://pycon.blip.tv/file/1947231/ http://pycon.blip.tv/file/1947231/ The talk starts at 3:45.
oomkiller 16y ago
I think they mainly chose it because it's what the community wanted. Git is very popular with Rubyists, and Pythonistas like to be a bit different than Rubyists. Instead, they chose hg, which is essentially git, with different names for things. Hg is a perfect fit for Python, as thats about how different Python is from Ruby or vice-versa ;)
- josephcooney 16y ago
  Or could it just be that mercurial is written in python?
  - oomkiller 16y ago
    Well I did read the article, so I know that was part of it, I just think how the community feels mattered the most.
  - VBprogrammer 16y ago
    I don't use Mercurial, but didn't they replace the last of the Python code quite recently?
    - lenni 16y ago
      You are misinformed. Mercurial is still very much written in Python with a small part in C.
- gilaniali 16y ago
  They do mention: "We are pragmatic enough to not choose a tool simply because it is written in Python, but we do see the usefulness in promoting tools that do use it when it is reasonable to do so as it is in this case."
- jacobolus 16y ago
  Git was created for Linux kernel development. How in the world does Ruby have anything to do with anything?
  - JustinSeriously 16y ago
    I think the logic is this: Github is popular. Ruby is the most popular language on Github. Therefore Ruby and Git are connected.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
mixu 16y ago
The summary: "First, git's Windows support is the weakest out of the three DVCSs being considered which is unacceptable as Python needs to support development on any platform it runs on. Since Python runs on Windows and some people do develop on the platform it needs solid support. And while git's support is improving, as of this moment it is the weakest by a large enough margin to warrant considering it a problem. Second, and just as important as the first issue, is that the Python core developers liked git the least out of the three DVCS options by a wide margin." I'm using Mercurial for the same reason - Windows support without complex dependencies.
- jncraton 16y ago
  Some of the Windows information on Git from this article is outdated. I use TortoiseGit on Windows regularly. It handles all the common cases for me very well. For the uncommon cases, it comes packaged with Bash for Windows, so I can use Git easily from the command line as well.
- tjsimmons 16y ago
  My first ever DVCS was Mercurial, using it on both Windows and Mac. I recently (last two months or so) switched to git, to try it, and due to what seemed to me overwhelming use for the projects I saw across the web. But, git felt weird. I don't know how to explain it other than that, but reading Python's decision to go with Mercurial just seemed to reinforce that to me. So I've switched back.

28 points by gilaniali 16y ago

There is a lighting talk of some of the reasons at PyCon 2009. http://pycon.blip.tv/file/1947231/ http://pycon.blip.tv/file/1947231/ The talk starts at 3:45.

oomkiller 16y ago

I think they mainly chose it because it's what the community wanted. Git is very popular with Rubyists, and Pythonistas like to be a bit different than Rubyists. Instead, they chose hg, which is essentially git, with different names for things. Hg is a perfect fit for Python, as thats about how different Python is from Ruby or vice-versa ;)

josephcooney 16y ago
Or could it just be that mercurial is written in python?
- oomkiller 16y ago
  Well I did read the article, so I know that was part of it, I just think how the community feels mattered the most.
- VBprogrammer 16y ago
  I don't use Mercurial, but didn't they replace the last of the Python code quite recently?
  - lenni 16y ago
    You are misinformed. Mercurial is still very much written in Python with a small part in C.
gilaniali 16y ago
They do mention: "We are pragmatic enough to not choose a tool simply because it is written in Python, but we do see the usefulness in promoting tools that do use it when it is reasonable to do so as it is in this case."
jacobolus 16y ago
Git was created for Linux kernel development. How in the world does Ruby have anything to do with anything?
- JustinSeriously 16y ago
  I think the logic is this: Github is popular. Ruby is the most popular language on Github. Therefore Ruby and Git are connected.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]

mixu 16y ago

The summary: "First, git's Windows support is the weakest out of the three DVCSs being considered which is unacceptable as Python needs to support development on any platform it runs on. Since Python runs on Windows and some people do develop on the platform it needs solid support. And while git's support is improving, as of this moment it is the weakest by a large enough margin to warrant considering it a problem. Second, and just as important as the first issue, is that the Python core developers liked git the least out of the three DVCS options by a wide margin." I'm using Mercurial for the same reason - Windows support without complex dependencies.

jncraton 16y ago
Some of the Windows information on Git from this article is outdated. I use TortoiseGit on Windows regularly. It handles all the common cases for me very well. For the uncommon cases, it comes packaged with Bash for Windows, so I can use Git easily from the command line as well.
tjsimmons 16y ago
My first ever DVCS was Mercurial, using it on both Windows and Mac. I recently (last two months or so) switched to git, to try it, and due to what seemed to me overwhelming use for the projects I saw across the web. But, git felt weird. I don't know how to explain it other than that, but reading Python's decision to go with Mercurial just seemed to reinforce that to me. So I've switched back.