6 ms·

I'm a somewhat advanced user of Git. My coworkers use me as a reference when they have a problem of a difficult merge to solve. I don't follow each Git release

by neves 6y ago

I'm a somewhat advanced user of Git. My coworkers use me as a reference when they have a problem of a difficult merge to solve. I don't follow each Git release, but I also didn't notice a great productivity enhancement for a long time. Sure it is a sign of a mature project, but I'd like to know: What's the somewhat recent Git feature that you really improved your productivity?

UkiahSmith 6y ago
git restore
- mpawelski 6y ago
  +1 this. It's not just better name for doing "git checkout -- path". "git checkout" has this stupid behavior of restoring files to worktree and index. "git restore" by default doesn't touch index (I wrote SO answer that explains this a bit more: https://stackoverflow.com/a/60855504/350384 https://stackoverflow.com/a/60855504/350384) there is also "git switch" but I just kept using "git checkout" because there is nothing "git switch" can do that "git checkout" can (it's just a shorter name but I had aliased "checkout" to "ch" anyway, as many people do)
jacobparker 6y ago
For the past few years the performance work (e.g. commit graph) has made a huge difference for large/fast moving repos. They're big enough to be productivity enhancements for some people: when we merged our Android-like multi-repo setup into a proper mono-repo we required updating git because things like git status/git commit/git log could take minutes without the recent perf fixes. It pays to follow the release notes because some of these features are opt-in (e.g. commit graph is still optional). The sparse checkout stuff is great but still too low-level for us to use, but it's laying the groundwork for something good.
mbakke 6y ago
As someone doing lots of merges in a big and active project, git rerere has saved me hours whenever I need to redo a complicated merge. It's not at all new according to a quick grep of RelNotes, but I only recently discovered it, so it is new to me.
- acdha 6y ago
  Conversely, I hit that years ago (long-running migration tarpit) and forgot about it until I setup a clean home directory on a system which didn’t have my dotfiles repo and thought I’d hit a major Git regression. It saves you time on exactly where you need it the most.
merb 6y ago
git switch/git switch -c so much better than git checkout and the confusing switches.
- imron 6y ago
  Not for me. Those confusing switches are already ingrained in my memory (or hidden away behind aliases) and now I find it more confusing that git is recommending new and different commands to do things that I've been doing a fixed way for years. `git restore <file>` instead of `git checkout -- <file>`is another one.
  - nitemice 6y ago
    Well, I guess the good thing here is that they're not going to remove the old checkout behaviour. And these new commands are much easier to use and understand for a beginner.
  - merb 6y ago
    well git checkout basically is confusing because it does two things at once. git restore and git switch basically tries to seperate the functionality. i.e. from: "git-checkout - Switch branches or restore working tree files" to - "git-switch - Switch branches" - "git-restore - Restore working tree files" tbf I found it really stupid from the beginning that it tries two things at once.
mklein994 6y ago
git range-diff Very useful to get an overview of what changed after a rebase. https://git-scm.com/docs/git-range-diff https://git-scm.com/docs/git-range-diff
- nitemice 6y ago
  Thank you for mentioning this. I wrote my own bash script to do something similar ages ago, but I'm betting this will be much less janky.
- lzutao 6y ago
  Really nice. I hope GitHub use this option soon. Or maybe not: I guess it's kinda slow and heavy on computation.
setpatchaddress 6y ago
git worktree. Godsend if you regularly need to work on multiple branches simultaneously.
- jayd16 6y ago
  What does worktree provide that a fresh local clone doesn't?
  - fiddlerwoaroof 6y ago
    Reduced disk space usage for large repositories. And a convenient way to manage all your clones
    - jayd16 6y ago
      I guess it reduces duplicating the history? Large files are by far the bulk of what I personally deal with so it don't think there's a real difference for me but I could see it helping.
      - fiddlerwoaroof 6y ago
        Yeah, it only stores the objects in the .git directory once.
  - MarkSweep 6y ago
    If it's a multi-gigabyte repo that you are cloning over a slow VPN, it speeds things up quite a bit.
    - iad 6y ago
      The `--reference` and `--dissociate` flags to `git clone` can be used to avoid the majority of the network transfer while still creating an independent local repository.
    - jayd16 6y ago
mklein994 6y ago
git diff --color-moved This makes git diff highlight reindented or moved lines differently. I use it to get diffs similar to when you pass -w, but with a bit more context. It takes a bit of experimenting to keep it from looking like a fruit salad, but sometimes you get interesting results. https://git-scm.com/docs/git-diff#Documentation/git-diff.txt---color-movedltmodegt https://git-scm.com/docs/git-diff#Documentation/git-diff.txt...
- square_usual 6y ago
  If you use git diffs frequently, I recommend setting up delta: https://github.com/dandavison/delta https://github.com/dandavison/delta
  - Myrmornis 6y ago
    And I am working on implementing color-moved support https://github.com/dandavison/delta/issues/72 https://github.com/dandavison/delta/issues/72
SomaticPirate 6y ago
Setting up watchman as a Git hook for fsmonitor. It speeds up git status on large codebases https://github.com/git/git/blob/master/templates/hooks--fsmonitor-watchman.sample https://github.com/git/git/blob/master/templates/hooks--fsmo...
kakawait 6y ago
Sparkle/partial checkout for big repo or legacy or people doing shit with git

by neves 6y ago

UkiahSmith 6y ago

git restore

mpawelski 6y ago
+1 this. It's not just better name for doing "git checkout -- path". "git checkout" has this stupid behavior of restoring files to worktree and index. "git restore" by default doesn't touch index (I wrote SO answer that explains this a bit more: https://stackoverflow.com/a/60855504/350384 https://stackoverflow.com/a/60855504/350384) there is also "git switch" but I just kept using "git checkout" because there is nothing "git switch" can do that "git checkout" can (it's just a shorter name but I had aliased "checkout" to "ch" anyway, as many people do)

jacobparker 6y ago

For the past few years the performance work (e.g. commit graph) has made a huge difference for large/fast moving repos. They're big enough to be productivity enhancements for some people: when we merged our Android-like multi-repo setup into a proper mono-repo we required updating git because things like git status/git commit/git log could take minutes without the recent perf fixes. It pays to follow the release notes because some of these features are opt-in (e.g. commit graph is still optional). The sparse checkout stuff is great but still too low-level for us to use, but it's laying the groundwork for something good.

mbakke 6y ago

As someone doing lots of merges in a big and active project, git rerere has saved me hours whenever I need to redo a complicated merge. It's not at all new according to a quick grep of RelNotes, but I only recently discovered it, so it is new to me.

acdha 6y ago
Conversely, I hit that years ago (long-running migration tarpit) and forgot about it until I setup a clean home directory on a system which didn’t have my dotfiles repo and thought I’d hit a major Git regression. It saves you time on exactly where you need it the most.

merb 6y ago

git switch/git switch -c so much better than git checkout and the confusing switches.

imron 6y ago
Not for me. Those confusing switches are already ingrained in my memory (or hidden away behind aliases) and now I find it more confusing that git is recommending new and different commands to do things that I've been doing a fixed way for years. `git restore <file>` instead of `git checkout -- <file>`is another one.
- nitemice 6y ago
  Well, I guess the good thing here is that they're not going to remove the old checkout behaviour. And these new commands are much easier to use and understand for a beginner.
- merb 6y ago
  well git checkout basically is confusing because it does two things at once. git restore and git switch basically tries to seperate the functionality. i.e. from: "git-checkout - Switch branches or restore working tree files" to - "git-switch - Switch branches" - "git-restore - Restore working tree files" tbf I found it really stupid from the beginning that it tries two things at once.

mklein994 6y ago

git range-diff Very useful to get an overview of what changed after a rebase. https://git-scm.com/docs/git-range-diff https://git-scm.com/docs/git-range-diff

nitemice 6y ago
Thank you for mentioning this. I wrote my own bash script to do something similar ages ago, but I'm betting this will be much less janky.
lzutao 6y ago
Really nice. I hope GitHub use this option soon. Or maybe not: I guess it's kinda slow and heavy on computation.

setpatchaddress 6y ago

git worktree. Godsend if you regularly need to work on multiple branches simultaneously.

jayd16 6y ago
What does worktree provide that a fresh local clone doesn't?
- fiddlerwoaroof 6y ago
  Reduced disk space usage for large repositories. And a convenient way to manage all your clones
  - jayd16 6y ago
    I guess it reduces duplicating the history? Large files are by far the bulk of what I personally deal with so it don't think there's a real difference for me but I could see it helping.
    - fiddlerwoaroof 6y ago
      Yeah, it only stores the objects in the .git directory once.
- MarkSweep 6y ago
  If it's a multi-gigabyte repo that you are cloning over a slow VPN, it speeds things up quite a bit.
  - iad 6y ago
    The `--reference` and `--dissociate` flags to `git clone` can be used to avoid the majority of the network transfer while still creating an independent local repository.
  - jayd16 6y ago

mklein994 6y ago

git diff --color-moved This makes git diff highlight reindented or moved lines differently. I use it to get diffs similar to when you pass -w, but with a bit more context. It takes a bit of experimenting to keep it from looking like a fruit salad, but sometimes you get interesting results. https://git-scm.com/docs/git-diff#Documentation/git-diff.txt---color-movedltmodegt https://git-scm.com/docs/git-diff#Documentation/git-diff.txt...

square_usual 6y ago
If you use git diffs frequently, I recommend setting up delta: https://github.com/dandavison/delta https://github.com/dandavison/delta
- Myrmornis 6y ago
  And I am working on implementing color-moved support https://github.com/dandavison/delta/issues/72 https://github.com/dandavison/delta/issues/72

SomaticPirate 6y ago

Setting up watchman as a Git hook for fsmonitor. It speeds up git status on large codebases https://github.com/git/git/blob/master/templates/hooks--fsmonitor-watchman.sample https://github.com/git/git/blob/master/templates/hooks--fsmo...

kakawait 6y ago

Sparkle/partial checkout for big repo or legacy or people doing shit with git