3 ms·

Benefits of a Git-backed Blog

33 points by jankins 15y ago

emillon 15y ago
> I started to get a feeling this wasn't right, and so I googled around for a way to undo the add. At that moment, the easiest way would have been to "rm -r .git". As git stores all its metadata in that hidden directory, this is a safe way to undo the creation of a repository.
alexchamberlain 15y ago
Sorry, but you didn'tblist any benefits, other than teaching you git. What about versioning your articles, distributed backups etc?
pilif 15y ago
There is a simple rule of thumb about unix tools: when you are in need of a -f or --force parameter, most likely something is wrong and you should rethink what you are doing. Even more so if the tool in question refuses to do anything unless -f is given. That said, I'm glad to see that the OP took this as a learning experience and not as a reason for posting a long-winded rant about why git should be considered harmful
- VMG 15y ago
  I'd say rm -f may be the exception - technically you could run a chmod +w before but you'll end up at the same place
karl_freeman 15y ago
On a slightly related note. If anyone is thinking of moving over to Git / Git(hub) backed blogging. Don't count out Github's 'Edit File' ( http://ace.ajax.org/ http://ace.ajax.org/ ) editor online as I constantly find myself amending typo's, etc... Was for sure an added bonus.
rcthompson 15y ago
I wonder if this was posted more for the "how I blew away my home directory with git" anecdote than anything else.
drivebyacct2 15y ago
Title says: "Benefits of a Git-backed Blog" Blogpost describes: "Deleting all my files with git" Conspicuously Missing: "Benefits of a Git-backed Blog"
- brown9-2 15y ago
  read the last paragraph.
- EdiX 15y ago
  It seems that the benefit of a git-backed blog is that you learn to use git.
antonyme 15y ago
I'm just about to switch over from MovableType to GitHub Pages http://pages.github.com/ http://pages.github.com/ . They use Jekyll http://jekyllrb.com/ http://jekyllrb.com/ to publish text, HTML or Markdown. So far it's pretty awesome. The benefits of this particular setup include: * all articles are under version control * just do a `push` to publish * easily run a local Jekyll server to preview articles * use a real programmer's text editor (not some web form) * Markdown is the best for tech articles * write, preview and commit while offline * code syntax highlighting * integration of snippets (gists) * variable layouts for different page types * pages are static so are served fast * easy to add comments with Disqus et al * easily port your content anywhere * keep images and other binary content alongside text Which reminds me - dear $DEITY, when is HN going to support Markdown?!
- gravitronic 15y ago
  Oh hey, it's the article I expected to read when I clicked on the blog post
- jankins 15y ago
  Much more complete list than mine, ha. Pelican supports github pages as well, though I decided not to use github in order to learn git better -- which should have been the singular title of the article as it turns out ("benefit") but what the hell, sue me.
shearn89 15y ago
* goes to read post * * comments on it on the blog * * comes to HN and discovers people have already made my comments in the comment thread * Great minds...
EnderMB 15y ago
Perhaps a bit off-topic, but isn't the use of post-receive hooks to publish your content effectively hacking Git to do something that it shouldn't? For me, the ideal approach was always to use continuous integration to publish/build my site fresh every time I commit.
- jankins 15y ago
  Not off-topic at all, I'd definitely like to hear more about this. I read a few 'use git to publish a live site' explanations, and settled on the post-receive hook because it was the first one to make sense to me and work, not because it's the ideal way to do it.
beothorn 15y ago
I'm beggining a github blog using jekyll. If anyone is interested, it is still a very basic and easy to understand setup. Also, I wrote a little script to write posts from the command line: https://github.com/beothorn/beothorn.github.com/blob/master/newJekyllPost https://github.com/beothorn/beothorn.github.com/blob/master/... Just change vim to your favorite editor.

33 points by jankins 15y ago

> I started to get a feeling this wasn't right, and so I googled around for a way to undo the add. At that moment, the easiest way would have been to "rm -r .git". As git stores all its metadata in that hidden directory, this is a safe way to undo the creation of a repository.

alexchamberlain 15y ago

Sorry, but you didn'tblist any benefits, other than teaching you git. What about versioning your articles, distributed backups etc?

pilif 15y ago

There is a simple rule of thumb about unix tools: when you are in need of a -f or --force parameter, most likely something is wrong and you should rethink what you are doing. Even more so if the tool in question refuses to do anything unless -f is given. That said, I'm glad to see that the OP took this as a learning experience and not as a reason for posting a long-winded rant about why git should be considered harmful

VMG 15y ago
I'd say rm -f may be the exception - technically you could run a chmod +w before but you'll end up at the same place

karl_freeman 15y ago

On a slightly related note. If anyone is thinking of moving over to Git / Git(hub) backed blogging. Don't count out Github's 'Edit File' ( http://ace.ajax.org/ http://ace.ajax.org/ ) editor online as I constantly find myself amending typo's, etc... Was for sure an added bonus.

rcthompson 15y ago

I wonder if this was posted more for the "how I blew away my home directory with git" anecdote than anything else.

drivebyacct2 15y ago

Title says: "Benefits of a Git-backed Blog" Blogpost describes: "Deleting all my files with git" Conspicuously Missing: "Benefits of a Git-backed Blog"

brown9-2 15y ago
read the last paragraph.
EdiX 15y ago
It seems that the benefit of a git-backed blog is that you learn to use git.

antonyme 15y ago

I'm just about to switch over from MovableType to GitHub Pages http://pages.github.com/ http://pages.github.com/ . They use Jekyll http://jekyllrb.com/ http://jekyllrb.com/ to publish text, HTML or Markdown. So far it's pretty awesome. The benefits of this particular setup include: * all articles are under version control * just do a `push` to publish * easily run a local Jekyll server to preview articles * use a real programmer's text editor (not some web form) * Markdown is the best for tech articles * write, preview and commit while offline * code syntax highlighting * integration of snippets (gists) * variable layouts for different page types * pages are static so are served fast * easy to add comments with Disqus et al * easily port your content anywhere * keep images and other binary content alongside text Which reminds me - dear $DEITY, when is HN going to support Markdown?!

gravitronic 15y ago
Oh hey, it's the article I expected to read when I clicked on the blog post
jankins 15y ago
Much more complete list than mine, ha. Pelican supports github pages as well, though I decided not to use github in order to learn git better -- which should have been the singular title of the article as it turns out ("benefit") but what the hell, sue me.

shearn89 15y ago

* goes to read post * * comments on it on the blog * * comes to HN and discovers people have already made my comments in the comment thread * Great minds...

EnderMB 15y ago

Perhaps a bit off-topic, but isn't the use of post-receive hooks to publish your content effectively hacking Git to do something that it shouldn't? For me, the ideal approach was always to use continuous integration to publish/build my site fresh every time I commit.

jankins 15y ago
Not off-topic at all, I'd definitely like to hear more about this. I read a few 'use git to publish a live site' explanations, and settled on the post-receive hook because it was the first one to make sense to me and work, not because it's the ideal way to do it.

beothorn 15y ago

I'm beggining a github blog using jekyll. If anyone is interested, it is still a very basic and easy to understand setup. Also, I wrote a little script to write posts from the command line: https://github.com/beothorn/beothorn.github.com/blob/master/newJekyllPost https://github.com/beothorn/beothorn.github.com/blob/master/... Just change vim to your favorite editor.