15 ms·

GitHub for Windows

549 points by sant0sk1 14y ago

mountaineer 14y ago
Two attempts, two crashes. Still a little rough.
wildc4rd 14y ago
Finally! I've spent many hours scratching my head trying to get connected to github through windows. I'm pleased to see this tool out.
statictype 14y ago
This is actually very cool. I expect this will drive up the adoption of GitHub by a measurable amount.
RandallBrown 14y ago
I really like the Mac app. Yes, it can be a little buggy and get in to some weird states, but when it works, I think it is one of the best ways to use source control. I've been doing a lot of Windows development lately and I've missed a good git tool. I'm very happy about this.
christianbryant 14y ago
A part of me wants to cry, yet I was an early user of WinCVS back in the day, due to workplace requirements. I know I will reluctantly be an early adopter of this, as well, since GitHub is the cat's meow :)
tallowen 14y ago
I find it interesting that both native apps (for Windows and Mac) try hard to emulate the look and feel of their respective operating system. One thing that is great about github.com and other websites is that it feels the same across multiple environments. Furthermore web browsers try to emulate their own style not that of the host operating system. If I use chrome or firefox in mac or windows they feel basically the same. I wonder if more applications will go in the direction of trying to match the feel of the host operating system over the feel of there application as a whole.
- FuzzyDunlop 14y ago
  I would hope so. Being a good OS citizen is nothing but a good thing. Fewer surprises, fewer quirks, more intuitive to the user (if done right), etc. It's nice to know GitHub made the effort.
  - estel 14y ago
    Precisely. Making the effort is half the game. It's a similar scenario with mobile apps: far too many Android apps are ported across from iOS without consideration for the different platform (usually by using a tab bar). And it really shows.
  - benatkin 14y ago
    > Being a good OS citizen is nothing but a good thing. Actually there are pros and cons to adapting an application to the platform instead of adapting the platform to the application. You're also conflating the OS with the window manager.
- RandallBrown 14y ago
  One of the biggest reasons that I prefer Mac to Windows is that most Mac developers spend a lot more time working on a native look and feel. The common OS shortcuts and UI metaphors go a long way towards making an app easier to use.
- harrylove 14y ago
  I've been developing web apps for Windows 8 lately using the native -ms- proprietary CSS styles and UI hooks available in IE 10 on touch devices. (CSS grids and scroll snap points!) Let me just say, web apps that follow the Windows 8 UX guidelines are easier to develop and, overall, just feel better to use. That is, they feel like they belong inside Windows 8. From that perspective, I think they're doing the right thing.
statictype 14y ago
I'd be interested in learning how they implemented the UI - it looks like it's native to Windows 8 but runs just as well on Windows 7. Would be interested to hear what toolkit they used. So far, the UX has been impressive for a tool that has historically not run very well on Windows. Edit: They've mentioned the toolkits used at the bottom of the page. Apparently this is written in C#.
- xpaulbettsx 14y ago
  The UI was implemented using WPF4 and Blend. We also use a framework called Caliburn Micro as well as a framework I wrote called ReactiveUI which orchestrates connecting the UI to data via binding.
  - statictype 14y ago
    Thanks for the info. It looks like you chose to embed Chromium for rendering markdown? What was the reason for not using an embedded IE instance (which is already part of every Windows installation).
    - protolif 14y ago
      Probably because IE is a giant failboat.
    - xpaulbettsx 14y ago
      IE doesn't participate in the WPF rendering system, so it would have all kinds of glitches like it sitting above all other controls (referred to in the docs as "Airspace Issues"), as well as unthemed controls (specifically the scroll bar - stuck out like a sore thumb). The markup that READMEs use is really simple, IE would've been fine for it.
      - erode 14y ago
        Airspace issues have been the bane of my existence until WPF3.5sp1. D3DImage! Side note -- I also advocate Caliburn.Micro, it's great!
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
pjmlp 14y ago
Great! For someone that has one foot in both Worlds (UNIX & Windows) this is a welcome addition to my toolset.
harrylove 14y ago
I hope this is the beginning of the end of TFS.
- zokier 14y ago
  Not without VS integration.
  - MichaelGG 14y ago
    VS integration is only the start. Easily/automatically integrated build, test, and work item integration is also pretty attractive.
- ep103 14y ago
  Hear hear!
- eblackburn 14y ago
  +1 (million)
evanw 14y ago
I'm interested to see how the community responds to their choice of ClickOnce as the deployment method. I use ClickOnce for several of my applications, and I'd say the users who dislike it the most have the highest technical aptitude (which, I'd guess, is a large part of GitHub's user base).
- statictype 14y ago
  shrug - Honestly, I thought the same thing - and then I only realized GitHub was a ClickOnce app after poking around at the shortcut it created on the Desktop. The installation was pretty seamless.
- Splines 14y ago
  Interesting. What's the usual cause for complaint?
  - evanw 14y ago
    The most common questions/complaints I get are: - Why can't I find the installation directory? (ClickOnce doesn't use the standard C:/Program Files/ location, it stores program files in C:/Users/<your username>/AppData/Local/Apps/2.0 for security reasons.) - Why does the installer need a network connection? (ClickOnce downloads the required setup files from the internet.) The lack of a standard Program Files/.exe deployment also makes it difficult to map filetype associations, which is also a frequent complaint. I'll likely be going with non-ClickOnce deployments for the future. ClickOnce is great for deploying production software at work, but for a consumer audience, it isn't quite perfect. (Personally, I really like ClickOnce.)
    - HarshaThota 14y ago
      Don't know if it's mature enough but have you looked at NSync (https://github.com/xpaulbettsx/NSync https://github.com/xpaulbettsx/NSync)? Considering that Paul has been working on it and yet choose to go with ClickOnce, I am guessing it's not ready for prime time but it might be worth looking into anyway.
lucassouza1 14y ago
Great job!
debacle 14y ago
This is very interesting. Will this tool be able to work with non-github git repositories?
- coolowencool 14y ago
  It picked up on my non-GitHub repos and initially, it seems like I can do all the things I would expect a git repo to do.
- olex 14y ago
  Yes, you can drag-and-drop any git repo folders in it, and it works. However, it only supports one upstream URL per repository.
cool-RR 14y ago
I've been expecting this for months, and as I guessed, it's pretty disappointing. I think that SmartGit is a much better GUI for Git on Windows. Just the fact that it doesn't have keyboard shortcuts is a dealbreaker.
- tylermenezes 14y ago
  Really? I don't like SmartGit at all? It's so flexible that it's unreasonably difficult to do even simple tasks. I'm glad Github decided on a core feature set, and made those very easy to access.
  - masnick 14y ago
    Agreed, SmartGit is a pain. Like the Mac app, GitHub for Win doesn't support every single git feature but it makes the ones it does support intuitive and accessible. Props.
- eblackburn 14y ago
  Good point. If I need the efficiency of a keyboard I will use the git bash cli. I suppose this is why they've bundled powershell git extensions. It's a first iteration / release. I'm sure with more feedback they'll release more often. I'm unlikely to use this much - because I favour the cli - but I really hope this makes git more accesible to some Windows shops.
ChrisAnn 14y ago
Does it allow you to format your commit messages? https://github.com/torvalds/linux/pull/17 https://github.com/torvalds/linux/pull/17
- eblackburn 14y ago
  You're brave sending pull requests to Linus on github for the Linux Kernel from a Windows machine ;)
leon_ 14y ago
lol, ugly
ConstantineXVI 14y ago
Very well done. ClickOnce installer; solid UI (rare on Windows, I've found), and even installs git hooks into PowerShell so there's no need to dump the user into bash (unless they want it). One downside, not entirely obvious how one's supposed to clone a repo with this?
- tylermenezes 14y ago
  Hover over the name of the repo and you'll see a clone button.
- ineedtosleep 14y ago
  To be fair, the GitHub for Windows UI looks a lot like the Zune UI, which has been around for a while now. I've not been able to try it yet on my Windows machines, but the screens I've seen look like they borrowed heavily from what Zune had.
  - generalk 14y ago
    GitHub for Mac borrows from a lot of good Mac UIs, and it looks like GitHub for Windows does the same from good Windows UIs. Frankly I find this refreshing. I'm tired of applications that build their own interaction layer and then implement that across every platform regardless of that platform's idioms. Or, even worse: Air apps.
    - elitrium 14y ago
      I don't think this is always such a good thing. http://artificialized.com/2012/05/github-for-windows/ http://artificialized.com/2012/05/github-for-windows/
  - jamesgeck0 14y ago
    It's designed to look like Metro, the style Microsoft is adopting for Windows 8. Zune was an early iteration of Metro.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
jstepien 14y ago
Finally an application with a UI which really nicely blends with the Windows 8 look and feel. Microsoft should be pleased.
- Pewpewarrows 14y ago
  MetroTwit is the only other app with a great new Metro UI that I've found.
  - fmystic 14y ago
    Don't forget Zune, the OG metro app. Or alternately, the hipster of metro ('was into it before it was cool')
  - erode 14y ago
    There are several, they just don't get much attention these days.
    - revolutions 14y ago
      Do you have a list or such? I'd love to use these. I've only seen MetroTwit, Zune, and this.
      - byproxy 14y ago
        http://code52.org/DownmarkerWPF/ http://code52.org/DownmarkerWPF/ That's one I stumbled upon a while back.
mkuhn 14y ago
Really cool. Looking forward when it will also will allow me to track Issues there. One problem that is rendering it unusable for me atm though is that it tells me that files contain changes that have not been touched and if I try to discard those changes it actually has no effect. Wanted to report it but found no way to do so on the GitHub for Windows page.
- robertszkutak 14y ago
  I also have this problem. I let it commit and push the commit just to see what would happen and the commit seems to have deleted and then re-added my files. Even after cloning a repository it wants me to make a commit like this. Afterwards it seems to work as expected though.
  - mkuhn 14y ago
    Yeah, seems to be an odd bug. Behavior for me is exactly the same as for you.
  - drivebyacct2 14y ago
    I had this problem on Mac as well which is why I used it for all of 15 minutes before giving up. My colleague tried it against my recommendations and before the end of the day he experienced the same thing.
SonicSoul 14y ago
great! i've been waiting for a long time for this.
protolif 14y ago
I'm strangely reminded of when people said that Android support would kill Instagram, because of their inferior cameras. (Don't shoot me. I'm an Android user of Instagram.)
base698 14y ago
Was this developed on raw hardware or in a VM running on Linux/Mac?
- TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
  Would it make much difference? Hardware virtualisation is pretty fast, no?
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
- drivebyacct2 14y ago
  Yeah, why do you ask? It really doesn't matter... at all.
- xpaulbettsx 14y ago
  Both
shanemhansen 14y ago
This is awesome. Personally I'm a linux user so git is one of those rare tools that caters to me, but I've been in a few backwards development shops where git was looked down upon because of inferior tool support on windows when compared to subversion. I'm in favor of anything that helps bring windows users into the git-using fold ;-)
ttrashh 14y ago
Nice work xpaulbettsx! Great to see a Caliburn.Micro getting some props. We're using it on a large WPF app now. How many people were on the team? Did you let Phil write any Xaml?
dstroot 14y ago
New to GIT - been using it only about four months. Using Windows 7 as my dev machine. I found learning the command line to not be too bad and haven't even really used the GUI toosl bundled with Msysgit. But I think I'm going to LOVE using this.
kjajula 14y ago
A nice addition would be Settings/Preferences where I can add or point to internal company github.
- drivebyacct2 14y ago
  The blog post mentions that it supports GitHub enterprise. You can clone from the web ui or drag and drop existing Git repos.
- LocalPCGuy 14y ago
  I would like the ability to add multiple folders to the path where it looks for local git repositories. For various reasons, I have repositories clustered in a few different spots on my drive. I tried to use the Windows Libraries, but as expected, it wanted a directory.
  - jamesgeck0 14y ago
    You can drag and drop local repos onto the window and it'll pick them up. Not the same as Library support, but it's something.
jasonkester 14y ago
Great news. I got flamed a month ago [1] for noting how difficult it is to get up and running on GitHub in the Windows world, where things like generating SSH keys aren't exactly part of the daily routine. Glad to hear that they were listening. [1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3871699 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3871699
- drivebyacct2 14y ago
  "Scary crypto stuff"? So you don't understand how PKI works and you're trying to use distributed source control? (I say this not to be a jerk, but because there aren't exactly a wealth of good alternatives given it is a distributed source control mechanism. PKI comes with the territory and an SSH key generation is part of that) GitHub doesn't take any more setup than a standard Git setup takes (well, outside of signing up, a very short process anyhow). Install the Git client via the Windows installer, (point and click, a minute, tops). Generate an SSH key. Upload the id_rsa.pub. Done. I mean, it would be one thing if they left users in the dark about this, but I'm fairly sure that the "Thanks for signing up page" links directly to the OS-specific meticulous step-by-step instructions of generating the key. I'm not sure you understand what it means to be flamed. Every one of the comments is specific about your misconceptions and why signing up for a GitHub account is as trivially easy as signing up for a Twitter account. (Using GitHub as an oAuth account does not require actually uploading a public key)
  - ctz 14y ago
    PKI has nothing to do with SSH keys. Github's use of SSH does not use certificates, and github has no certification infrastructure.
    - drivebyacct2 14y ago
      My apologies, I abuse "PKI" to mean "PK infrastructure" (which I know is what the acronym stands for, I'm making a bit of tongue-in-cheek commentary), I think it's silly that PKI implicitly means CAs but according to Wikipedia at least, you're correct.
martinaglv 14y ago
For those of you looking for a nice Git client for Windows, I suggest checking out TortoiseGit[1]. I can't recommend it enough. It is such a powerful peace of software and I am surprised it is not brought up in discussions more often. http://code.google.com/p/tortoisegit/ http://code.google.com/p/tortoisegit/
- facorreia 14y ago
  I really like Git Extensions. http://code.google.com/p/gitextensions/ http://code.google.com/p/gitextensions/
- trun 14y ago
  I use TortoiseGit (and was a long time user of TortoiseSVN before that), but I find it to be a poor substitute for the command line. I feel like they tried to make the names of git commands more user friendly, but having already grown accustomed to misnomers like "git checkout" it often takes me a little while to find the right action in TortoiseGit.
  - slowpoke 14y ago
    These aren't misnomers, they are intentional. Please read a bit into git before you accuse it of "misnaming" things.
  - lancefisher 14y ago
    Checkout in SVN does not mean the same as it does in git. SVN Checkout is more like Git Clone. Checkout in git means change to a different branch. You "checkout a branch" in git. I think it is better for TortoiseGit to match the semantics of git rather than match the semantics of TortoiseSVN. It causes some confusion coming from SVN for sure, but once you start using git, you should learn its dialect. It would be worse if TortoiseGit did not match git's vocabulary.
    - trun 14y ago
      That was my point. For example, TortoiseGit presents "revert" instead of "checkout" (e.g. on a file, not a branch). "revert" in git actually means something else entirely.
mohsen 14y ago
not sure about anyone else around here but this fella http://i.imgur.com/Q3d6N.png http://i.imgur.com/Q3d6N.png has popped up twice for me in the first 5 minutes of setting up.
- debacle 14y ago
  I'm having the same issues. Having trouble adding local repos, pinning repos, and checking out branches. I already had msys installed, so I'm concerned that GitHub may have tried to install it again, causing conflicts.
- skeletonjelly 14y ago
  What's in the "view more details" dropdown?
eibrahim 14y ago
Will this work with git repos on bitbucket? I use bitbucket because I can have unlimited private repos for free.
- facorreia 14y ago
  Yes, it works with any local git repository. I have a git repo linked to bitbucket and I could use this tool to open it and work on it.
  - artursapek 14y ago
    Good on Github for not closing it off.
eibrahim 14y ago
I am interested in knowing how you integrated chromium in your .net app??? Could you share that info or blog about it?
- AhtiK 14y ago
  http://code.google.com/p/chromiumembedded/ http://code.google.com/p/chromiumembedded/
- ataranto 14y ago
  Chromium Embedded Framework: http://code.google.com/p/chromiumembedded/ http://code.google.com/p/chromiumembedded/ CefSharp (.NET Bindings): https://github.com/ataranto/CefSharp https://github.com/ataranto/CefSharp
  - xpaulbettsx 14y ago
    Yep, use ataranto's fork, ours is hacked up and out-of-date.
dysoco 14y ago
Now we just need GitHub for Linux. Though Linux might not like it.
mkopinsky 14y ago
Is there a standalone installer? I am behind a proxy and the installer doesn't seem to get along with Tunnelier. 14:32:19.309 (unrecognized proxy protocol) connection from 127.0.0.1:3743 failed: Unsupported client protocol; the client may be expecting a regular HTTP proxy.
shpoonj 14y ago
Very very very confused about why they chose to use an outdated logo for the property.
gadders 14y ago
Slightly off-topic, but the name for the Powershell git scripts - posh git - did make me laugh.
jamesgeck0 14y ago
Is there any particular reason that it leaves ssh-agent.exe running after it closes?
gte910h 14y ago
This is great, windows has a paucity of great git clients (unlike Mac).
guelo 14y ago
Seems nice except for how it keeps pushing you to login to github, that would probaby get annoying after a while if working with non-github repos. Also the diffs weren't working with the java files I tried it with, it just minuses and plusses the whole file, hopefully just a bug they can fix. This is my first look at a Windows 8 UI and if this is representative of the fufure I am worried, but it does looks pretty. Overall though this is a good effort.
novalis 14y ago
Nice to see this happen. Though Git Bash running on mingw32 actually is very handy, TortoiseGit also does a great job. But it is also good to have options.
pthread 14y ago
Funny how most git users out there (at least according to the git user's survery 2011 [1]) use Linux, yet github seems to go out of its way not to build a tool for its majority of users. I would also go as far as to extrapolate and state that most github users are Linux users (which is true for every programmer I know on github). Would it have been that hard to just use Qt and build a cross platform tool? Or is that not hipster-friendly enough? I guess it's cool to profit, not that cool to give back. I wouldn't use their tool anyway but I think they're assholes on this one. [1] https://www.survs.com/results/Q5CA9SKQ/P7DE07F0PL https://www.survs.com/results/Q5CA9SKQ/P7DE07F0PL
- Wilya 14y ago
  Instead of building for the existing community, they are trying to expand the toolset to "seduce" other communities. Both are perfectly worthy goals. Just different.
- dannytatom 14y ago
  Making your app feel at home on the host OS is a hipster thing to do now?
- toyg 14y ago
  The tool for Linux users already exists: it's git itself. Demand for a desktop GUI in the Linux world is almost zero for basically everything, but especially so for a tool like git with no external dependency.
debacle 14y ago
Please, please don't name your installer 'setup.exe' When I browse to my downloads folder, the most frustrating thing in the world is trying to figure out where 'setup.exe' came from.
- 1880 14y ago
  I think it's called that way because of some kind of naming convention that Windows expects from installers?
  - debacle 14y ago
    I have a whole folder full of installers. Only a few of them are named setup.exe.
  - sriramk 14y ago
    No such convention. Windows does some funky detection of when the exe might need to elevate privs but it detects anything with the word setup in the filename.
  - skeletonjelly 14y ago
    Nope. But I think it's a part of ClickOnce, the technology they use to bundle up an app into a setup.exe that fetches the latest source from a web server.
    - pseale 14y ago
      Nope. At work we have a similar setup.exe file. The setup.exe is a bootstrapper that installs prerequisites first, then runs the ClickOnce installer which is separate.
cocoflunchy 14y ago
It's great - one downside though: it has added a Github folder in "My Documents" that I can't seem to delete. I hate when unwanted folders pop in like that.
- LocalPCGuy 14y ago
  It was pretty easy to go into the Options and change the default folder, for instance, I have a /git/ folder at the root of my drive with my repos in it.
voxx 14y ago
As a developer, I feel obligated to disagree with anything Windows. I'd honestly rather force people to use Linux or OSX than windows. I'd go so far as to say I would totally exclude Windows users entirely and that I support attempts to make it more difficult for a Windows user to use something.
- recursive 14y ago
  That is why github will beat your social code management site.
  - voxx 14y ago
    in popularity, but not in functionality or in intelligence of user.
    - recursive 14y ago
      Mensa has a lot of intelligent members, but that doesn't mean it's good for anything.
      - voxx 14y ago
        Try to stay relevant please, Mensa has nothing to do with writing code.
        recursive 14y ago
        Thanks for the reminder. I was responding to your comment about "intelligence of the user". My point is that, while it is a metric you can compete on, it's not a particularly meaningful one.
      - deleted 14y ago
        [deleted]
edandersen 14y ago
"GitHub for Windows is a 100% native application" "The application is written in C#" Is managed code the new native?
- johns 14y ago
  "Native" now pretty much means not-web-based or using a cross-platform framework (like Air).
skeletonjelly 14y ago
I'm sorry if this has been asked, but since this is using your framework, xpaulbettsx, is the source for this going to be available? I always love seeing open source functional applications that use a certain framework or toolkit I'm considering. Makes the divide between reading code/documentation and the end product just seem that whole much closer.
veneratio 14y ago
This is good to see some better abstraction for non-experts. While I much prefer the command line interface, guis are a phenomenal way to introduce someone to the "better way". Now we just need good guis!
FreshCode 14y ago
Wow, really beautiful Metro application. Thanks GitHub!
gulbrandr 14y ago
I really dislike this ClickOne installer. Where is it installed?
- gulbrandr 14y ago
  I found github.exe: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Apps\2.0\51DBXE19.R1Z\RGNBRRL3.Q0Q\gith..tion_8f45a2159c87c850_0001.0000_c87fd0df5204df40\github.exe
toyg 14y ago
Awesome tool, but I think it shows once more the terrible state of SSH in the Windows world. It's scandalous how MS refuses to make it a first-class citizen on the platform -- it should come pre-installed and pre-configured, or at least with a config wizard, and have simple APIs for third-party apps. Considering how MS are not really pushing a competitor, I don't understand why they refuse to add such a simple thing. RDP is a completely different tool, and anyway it's not really something you'd expose on the internet, so I don't understand why they can't just integrate OpenSSH -- it's not even GPL!
detay 14y ago
Am I the only one having problems on 64-bit windows?
urza 14y ago
Is the app opensource? Looks really nice and I thing it would be great learning app for the c# libraries you used, e.g. to see how you use the reactive extensions..
santa_boy 14y ago
is there a way to create a portable version of the windows app?

549 points by sant0sk1 14y ago

Two attempts, two crashes. Still a little rough.

Finally! I've spent many hours scratching my head trying to get connected to github through windows. I'm pleased to see this tool out.

statictype 14y ago

This is actually very cool. I expect this will drive up the adoption of GitHub by a measurable amount.

RandallBrown 14y ago

I really like the Mac app. Yes, it can be a little buggy and get in to some weird states, but when it works, I think it is one of the best ways to use source control. I've been doing a lot of Windows development lately and I've missed a good git tool. I'm very happy about this.

christianbryant 14y ago

A part of me wants to cry, yet I was an early user of WinCVS back in the day, due to workplace requirements. I know I will reluctantly be an early adopter of this, as well, since GitHub is the cat's meow :)

tallowen 14y ago

I find it interesting that both native apps (for Windows and Mac) try hard to emulate the look and feel of their respective operating system. One thing that is great about github.com and other websites is that it feels the same across multiple environments. Furthermore web browsers try to emulate their own style not that of the host operating system. If I use chrome or firefox in mac or windows they feel basically the same. I wonder if more applications will go in the direction of trying to match the feel of the host operating system over the feel of there application as a whole.

FuzzyDunlop 14y ago
I would hope so. Being a good OS citizen is nothing but a good thing. Fewer surprises, fewer quirks, more intuitive to the user (if done right), etc. It's nice to know GitHub made the effort.
- estel 14y ago
  Precisely. Making the effort is half the game. It's a similar scenario with mobile apps: far too many Android apps are ported across from iOS without consideration for the different platform (usually by using a tab bar). And it really shows.
- benatkin 14y ago
  > Being a good OS citizen is nothing but a good thing. Actually there are pros and cons to adapting an application to the platform instead of adapting the platform to the application. You're also conflating the OS with the window manager.
RandallBrown 14y ago
One of the biggest reasons that I prefer Mac to Windows is that most Mac developers spend a lot more time working on a native look and feel. The common OS shortcuts and UI metaphors go a long way towards making an app easier to use.
harrylove 14y ago
I've been developing web apps for Windows 8 lately using the native -ms- proprietary CSS styles and UI hooks available in IE 10 on touch devices. (CSS grids and scroll snap points!) Let me just say, web apps that follow the Windows 8 UX guidelines are easier to develop and, overall, just feel better to use. That is, they feel like they belong inside Windows 8. From that perspective, I think they're doing the right thing.

statictype 14y ago

I'd be interested in learning how they implemented the UI - it looks like it's native to Windows 8 but runs just as well on Windows 7. Would be interested to hear what toolkit they used. So far, the UX has been impressive for a tool that has historically not run very well on Windows. Edit: They've mentioned the toolkits used at the bottom of the page. Apparently this is written in C#.

xpaulbettsx 14y ago
The UI was implemented using WPF4 and Blend. We also use a framework called Caliburn Micro as well as a framework I wrote called ReactiveUI which orchestrates connecting the UI to data via binding.
- statictype 14y ago
  Thanks for the info. It looks like you chose to embed Chromium for rendering markdown? What was the reason for not using an embedded IE instance (which is already part of every Windows installation).
  - protolif 14y ago
    Probably because IE is a giant failboat.
  - xpaulbettsx 14y ago
    IE doesn't participate in the WPF rendering system, so it would have all kinds of glitches like it sitting above all other controls (referred to in the docs as "Airspace Issues"), as well as unthemed controls (specifically the scroll bar - stuck out like a sore thumb). The markup that READMEs use is really simple, IE would've been fine for it.
    - erode 14y ago
      Airspace issues have been the bane of my existence until WPF3.5sp1. D3DImage! Side note -- I also advocate Caliburn.Micro, it's great!

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

pjmlp 14y ago

Great! For someone that has one foot in both Worlds (UNIX & Windows) this is a welcome addition to my toolset.

harrylove 14y ago

I hope this is the beginning of the end of TFS.

zokier 14y ago
Not without VS integration.
- MichaelGG 14y ago
  VS integration is only the start. Easily/automatically integrated build, test, and work item integration is also pretty attractive.
ep103 14y ago
Hear hear!
eblackburn 14y ago
+1 (million)

evanw 14y ago

I'm interested to see how the community responds to their choice of ClickOnce as the deployment method. I use ClickOnce for several of my applications, and I'd say the users who dislike it the most have the highest technical aptitude (which, I'd guess, is a large part of GitHub's user base).

statictype 14y ago
shrug - Honestly, I thought the same thing - and then I only realized GitHub was a ClickOnce app after poking around at the shortcut it created on the Desktop. The installation was pretty seamless.
Splines 14y ago
Interesting. What's the usual cause for complaint?
- evanw 14y ago
  The most common questions/complaints I get are: - Why can't I find the installation directory? (ClickOnce doesn't use the standard C:/Program Files/ location, it stores program files in C:/Users/<your username>/AppData/Local/Apps/2.0 for security reasons.) - Why does the installer need a network connection? (ClickOnce downloads the required setup files from the internet.) The lack of a standard Program Files/.exe deployment also makes it difficult to map filetype associations, which is also a frequent complaint. I'll likely be going with non-ClickOnce deployments for the future. ClickOnce is great for deploying production software at work, but for a consumer audience, it isn't quite perfect. (Personally, I really like ClickOnce.)
  - HarshaThota 14y ago
    Don't know if it's mature enough but have you looked at NSync (https://github.com/xpaulbettsx/NSync https://github.com/xpaulbettsx/NSync)? Considering that Paul has been working on it and yet choose to go with ClickOnce, I am guessing it's not ready for prime time but it might be worth looking into anyway.

lucassouza1 14y ago

Great job!

debacle 14y ago

This is very interesting. Will this tool be able to work with non-github git repositories?

coolowencool 14y ago
It picked up on my non-GitHub repos and initially, it seems like I can do all the things I would expect a git repo to do.
olex 14y ago
Yes, you can drag-and-drop any git repo folders in it, and it works. However, it only supports one upstream URL per repository.

cool-RR 14y ago

I've been expecting this for months, and as I guessed, it's pretty disappointing. I think that SmartGit is a much better GUI for Git on Windows. Just the fact that it doesn't have keyboard shortcuts is a dealbreaker.

tylermenezes 14y ago
Really? I don't like SmartGit at all? It's so flexible that it's unreasonably difficult to do even simple tasks. I'm glad Github decided on a core feature set, and made those very easy to access.
- masnick 14y ago
  Agreed, SmartGit is a pain. Like the Mac app, GitHub for Win doesn't support every single git feature but it makes the ones it does support intuitive and accessible. Props.
eblackburn 14y ago
Good point. If I need the efficiency of a keyboard I will use the git bash cli. I suppose this is why they've bundled powershell git extensions. It's a first iteration / release. I'm sure with more feedback they'll release more often. I'm unlikely to use this much - because I favour the cli - but I really hope this makes git more accesible to some Windows shops.

ChrisAnn 14y ago

Does it allow you to format your commit messages? https://github.com/torvalds/linux/pull/17 https://github.com/torvalds/linux/pull/17

eblackburn 14y ago
You're brave sending pull requests to Linus on github for the Linux Kernel from a Windows machine ;)

leon_ 14y ago

lol, ugly

ConstantineXVI 14y ago

Very well done. ClickOnce installer; solid UI (rare on Windows, I've found), and even installs git hooks into PowerShell so there's no need to dump the user into bash (unless they want it). One downside, not entirely obvious how one's supposed to clone a repo with this?

tylermenezes 14y ago
Hover over the name of the repo and you'll see a clone button.
ineedtosleep 14y ago
To be fair, the GitHub for Windows UI looks a lot like the Zune UI, which has been around for a while now. I've not been able to try it yet on my Windows machines, but the screens I've seen look like they borrowed heavily from what Zune had.
- generalk 14y ago
  GitHub for Mac borrows from a lot of good Mac UIs, and it looks like GitHub for Windows does the same from good Windows UIs. Frankly I find this refreshing. I'm tired of applications that build their own interaction layer and then implement that across every platform regardless of that platform's idioms. Or, even worse: Air apps.
  - elitrium 14y ago
    I don't think this is always such a good thing. http://artificialized.com/2012/05/github-for-windows/ http://artificialized.com/2012/05/github-for-windows/
- jamesgeck0 14y ago
  It's designed to look like Metro, the style Microsoft is adopting for Windows 8. Zune was an early iteration of Metro.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]

jstepien 14y ago

Finally an application with a UI which really nicely blends with the Windows 8 look and feel. Microsoft should be pleased.

Pewpewarrows 14y ago
MetroTwit is the only other app with a great new Metro UI that I've found.
- fmystic 14y ago
  Don't forget Zune, the OG metro app. Or alternately, the hipster of metro ('was into it before it was cool')
- erode 14y ago
  There are several, they just don't get much attention these days.
  - revolutions 14y ago
    Do you have a list or such? I'd love to use these. I've only seen MetroTwit, Zune, and this.
    - byproxy 14y ago
      http://code52.org/DownmarkerWPF/ http://code52.org/DownmarkerWPF/ That's one I stumbled upon a while back.

mkuhn 14y ago

Really cool. Looking forward when it will also will allow me to track Issues there. One problem that is rendering it unusable for me atm though is that it tells me that files contain changes that have not been touched and if I try to discard those changes it actually has no effect. Wanted to report it but found no way to do so on the GitHub for Windows page.

robertszkutak 14y ago
I also have this problem. I let it commit and push the commit just to see what would happen and the commit seems to have deleted and then re-added my files. Even after cloning a repository it wants me to make a commit like this. Afterwards it seems to work as expected though.
- mkuhn 14y ago
  Yeah, seems to be an odd bug. Behavior for me is exactly the same as for you.
- drivebyacct2 14y ago
  I had this problem on Mac as well which is why I used it for all of 15 minutes before giving up. My colleague tried it against my recommendations and before the end of the day he experienced the same thing.

SonicSoul 14y ago

great! i've been waiting for a long time for this.

protolif 14y ago

I'm strangely reminded of when people said that Android support would kill Instagram, because of their inferior cameras. (Don't shoot me. I'm an Android user of Instagram.)

base698 14y ago

Was this developed on raw hardware or in a VM running on Linux/Mac?

TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
Would it make much difference? Hardware virtualisation is pretty fast, no?
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
drivebyacct2 14y ago
Yeah, why do you ask? It really doesn't matter... at all.
xpaulbettsx 14y ago
Both

shanemhansen 14y ago

This is awesome. Personally I'm a linux user so git is one of those rare tools that caters to me, but I've been in a few backwards development shops where git was looked down upon because of inferior tool support on windows when compared to subversion. I'm in favor of anything that helps bring windows users into the git-using fold ;-)

ttrashh 14y ago

Nice work xpaulbettsx! Great to see a Caliburn.Micro getting some props. We're using it on a large WPF app now. How many people were on the team? Did you let Phil write any Xaml?

dstroot 14y ago

New to GIT - been using it only about four months. Using Windows 7 as my dev machine. I found learning the command line to not be too bad and haven't even really used the GUI toosl bundled with Msysgit. But I think I'm going to LOVE using this.

kjajula 14y ago

A nice addition would be Settings/Preferences where I can add or point to internal company github.

drivebyacct2 14y ago
The blog post mentions that it supports GitHub enterprise. You can clone from the web ui or drag and drop existing Git repos.
LocalPCGuy 14y ago
I would like the ability to add multiple folders to the path where it looks for local git repositories. For various reasons, I have repositories clustered in a few different spots on my drive. I tried to use the Windows Libraries, but as expected, it wanted a directory.
- jamesgeck0 14y ago
  You can drag and drop local repos onto the window and it'll pick them up. Not the same as Library support, but it's something.

jasonkester 14y ago

Great news. I got flamed a month ago [1] for noting how difficult it is to get up and running on GitHub in the Windows world, where things like generating SSH keys aren't exactly part of the daily routine. Glad to hear that they were listening. [1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3871699 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3871699

drivebyacct2 14y ago
"Scary crypto stuff"? So you don't understand how PKI works and you're trying to use distributed source control? (I say this not to be a jerk, but because there aren't exactly a wealth of good alternatives given it is a distributed source control mechanism. PKI comes with the territory and an SSH key generation is part of that) GitHub doesn't take any more setup than a standard Git setup takes (well, outside of signing up, a very short process anyhow). Install the Git client via the Windows installer, (point and click, a minute, tops). Generate an SSH key. Upload the id_rsa.pub. Done. I mean, it would be one thing if they left users in the dark about this, but I'm fairly sure that the "Thanks for signing up page" links directly to the OS-specific meticulous step-by-step instructions of generating the key. I'm not sure you understand what it means to be flamed. Every one of the comments is specific about your misconceptions and why signing up for a GitHub account is as trivially easy as signing up for a Twitter account. (Using GitHub as an oAuth account does not require actually uploading a public key)
- ctz 14y ago
  PKI has nothing to do with SSH keys. Github's use of SSH does not use certificates, and github has no certification infrastructure.
  - drivebyacct2 14y ago
    My apologies, I abuse "PKI" to mean "PK infrastructure" (which I know is what the acronym stands for, I'm making a bit of tongue-in-cheek commentary), I think it's silly that PKI implicitly means CAs but according to Wikipedia at least, you're correct.

martinaglv 14y ago

For those of you looking for a nice Git client for Windows, I suggest checking out TortoiseGit[1]. I can't recommend it enough. It is such a powerful peace of software and I am surprised it is not brought up in discussions more often. http://code.google.com/p/tortoisegit/ http://code.google.com/p/tortoisegit/

facorreia 14y ago
I really like Git Extensions. http://code.google.com/p/gitextensions/ http://code.google.com/p/gitextensions/
trun 14y ago
I use TortoiseGit (and was a long time user of TortoiseSVN before that), but I find it to be a poor substitute for the command line. I feel like they tried to make the names of git commands more user friendly, but having already grown accustomed to misnomers like "git checkout" it often takes me a little while to find the right action in TortoiseGit.
- slowpoke 14y ago
  These aren't misnomers, they are intentional. Please read a bit into git before you accuse it of "misnaming" things.
- lancefisher 14y ago
  Checkout in SVN does not mean the same as it does in git. SVN Checkout is more like Git Clone. Checkout in git means change to a different branch. You "checkout a branch" in git. I think it is better for TortoiseGit to match the semantics of git rather than match the semantics of TortoiseSVN. It causes some confusion coming from SVN for sure, but once you start using git, you should learn its dialect. It would be worse if TortoiseGit did not match git's vocabulary.
  - trun 14y ago
    That was my point. For example, TortoiseGit presents "revert" instead of "checkout" (e.g. on a file, not a branch). "revert" in git actually means something else entirely.

mohsen 14y ago

not sure about anyone else around here but this fella http://i.imgur.com/Q3d6N.png http://i.imgur.com/Q3d6N.png has popped up twice for me in the first 5 minutes of setting up.

debacle 14y ago
I'm having the same issues. Having trouble adding local repos, pinning repos, and checking out branches. I already had msys installed, so I'm concerned that GitHub may have tried to install it again, causing conflicts.
skeletonjelly 14y ago
What's in the "view more details" dropdown?

eibrahim 14y ago

Will this work with git repos on bitbucket? I use bitbucket because I can have unlimited private repos for free.

facorreia 14y ago
Yes, it works with any local git repository. I have a git repo linked to bitbucket and I could use this tool to open it and work on it.
- artursapek 14y ago
  Good on Github for not closing it off.

eibrahim 14y ago

I am interested in knowing how you integrated chromium in your .net app??? Could you share that info or blog about it?

AhtiK 14y ago
http://code.google.com/p/chromiumembedded/ http://code.google.com/p/chromiumembedded/
ataranto 14y ago
Chromium Embedded Framework: http://code.google.com/p/chromiumembedded/ http://code.google.com/p/chromiumembedded/ CefSharp (.NET Bindings): https://github.com/ataranto/CefSharp https://github.com/ataranto/CefSharp
- xpaulbettsx 14y ago
  Yep, use ataranto's fork, ours is hacked up and out-of-date.

dysoco 14y ago

Now we just need GitHub for Linux. Though Linux might not like it.

mkopinsky 14y ago

Is there a standalone installer? I am behind a proxy and the installer doesn't seem to get along with Tunnelier. 14:32:19.309 (unrecognized proxy protocol) connection from 127.0.0.1:3743 failed: Unsupported client protocol; the client may be expecting a regular HTTP proxy.

shpoonj 14y ago

Very very very confused about why they chose to use an outdated logo for the property.

gadders 14y ago

Slightly off-topic, but the name for the Powershell git scripts - posh git - did make me laugh.

jamesgeck0 14y ago

Is there any particular reason that it leaves ssh-agent.exe running after it closes?

gte910h 14y ago

This is great, windows has a paucity of great git clients (unlike Mac).

guelo 14y ago

Seems nice except for how it keeps pushing you to login to github, that would probaby get annoying after a while if working with non-github repos. Also the diffs weren't working with the java files I tried it with, it just minuses and plusses the whole file, hopefully just a bug they can fix. This is my first look at a Windows 8 UI and if this is representative of the fufure I am worried, but it does looks pretty. Overall though this is a good effort.

novalis 14y ago

Nice to see this happen. Though Git Bash running on mingw32 actually is very handy, TortoiseGit also does a great job. But it is also good to have options.

pthread 14y ago

Funny how most git users out there (at least according to the git user's survery 2011 [1]) use Linux, yet github seems to go out of its way not to build a tool for its majority of users. I would also go as far as to extrapolate and state that most github users are Linux users (which is true for every programmer I know on github). Would it have been that hard to just use Qt and build a cross platform tool? Or is that not hipster-friendly enough? I guess it's cool to profit, not that cool to give back. I wouldn't use their tool anyway but I think they're assholes on this one. [1] https://www.survs.com/results/Q5CA9SKQ/P7DE07F0PL https://www.survs.com/results/Q5CA9SKQ/P7DE07F0PL

Wilya 14y ago
Instead of building for the existing community, they are trying to expand the toolset to "seduce" other communities. Both are perfectly worthy goals. Just different.
dannytatom 14y ago
Making your app feel at home on the host OS is a hipster thing to do now?
toyg 14y ago
The tool for Linux users already exists: it's git itself. Demand for a desktop GUI in the Linux world is almost zero for basically everything, but especially so for a tool like git with no external dependency.

debacle 14y ago

Please, please don't name your installer 'setup.exe' When I browse to my downloads folder, the most frustrating thing in the world is trying to figure out where 'setup.exe' came from.

1880 14y ago
I think it's called that way because of some kind of naming convention that Windows expects from installers?
- debacle 14y ago
  I have a whole folder full of installers. Only a few of them are named setup.exe.
- sriramk 14y ago
  No such convention. Windows does some funky detection of when the exe might need to elevate privs but it detects anything with the word setup in the filename.
- skeletonjelly 14y ago
  Nope. But I think it's a part of ClickOnce, the technology they use to bundle up an app into a setup.exe that fetches the latest source from a web server.
  - pseale 14y ago
    Nope. At work we have a similar setup.exe file. The setup.exe is a bootstrapper that installs prerequisites first, then runs the ClickOnce installer which is separate.

cocoflunchy 14y ago

It's great - one downside though: it has added a Github folder in "My Documents" that I can't seem to delete. I hate when unwanted folders pop in like that.

LocalPCGuy 14y ago
It was pretty easy to go into the Options and change the default folder, for instance, I have a /git/ folder at the root of my drive with my repos in it.

voxx 14y ago

As a developer, I feel obligated to disagree with anything Windows. I'd honestly rather force people to use Linux or OSX than windows. I'd go so far as to say I would totally exclude Windows users entirely and that I support attempts to make it more difficult for a Windows user to use something.

recursive 14y ago
That is why github will beat your social code management site.
- voxx 14y ago
  in popularity, but not in functionality or in intelligence of user.
  - recursive 14y ago
    Mensa has a lot of intelligent members, but that doesn't mean it's good for anything.
    - voxx 14y ago
      Try to stay relevant please, Mensa has nothing to do with writing code.
      - recursive 14y ago
        Thanks for the reminder. I was responding to your comment about "intelligence of the user". My point is that, while it is a metric you can compete on, it's not a particularly meaningful one.
    - deleted 14y ago
      [deleted]

edandersen 14y ago

"GitHub for Windows is a 100% native application" "The application is written in C#" Is managed code the new native?

johns 14y ago
"Native" now pretty much means not-web-based or using a cross-platform framework (like Air).

skeletonjelly 14y ago

I'm sorry if this has been asked, but since this is using your framework, xpaulbettsx, is the source for this going to be available? I always love seeing open source functional applications that use a certain framework or toolkit I'm considering. Makes the divide between reading code/documentation and the end product just seem that whole much closer.

veneratio 14y ago

This is good to see some better abstraction for non-experts. While I much prefer the command line interface, guis are a phenomenal way to introduce someone to the "better way". Now we just need good guis!

FreshCode 14y ago

Wow, really beautiful Metro application. Thanks GitHub!

gulbrandr 14y ago

I really dislike this ClickOne installer. Where is it installed?

gulbrandr 14y ago
I found github.exe: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Apps\2.0\51DBXE19.R1Z\RGNBRRL3.Q0Q\gith..tion_8f45a2159c87c850_0001.0000_c87fd0df5204df40\github.exe

toyg 14y ago

Awesome tool, but I think it shows once more the terrible state of SSH in the Windows world. It's scandalous how MS refuses to make it a first-class citizen on the platform -- it should come pre-installed and pre-configured, or at least with a config wizard, and have simple APIs for third-party apps. Considering how MS are not really pushing a competitor, I don't understand why they refuse to add such a simple thing. RDP is a completely different tool, and anyway it's not really something you'd expose on the internet, so I don't understand why they can't just integrate OpenSSH -- it's not even GPL!

detay 14y ago

Am I the only one having problems on 64-bit windows?

urza 14y ago

Is the app opensource? Looks really nice and I thing it would be great learning app for the c# libraries you used, e.g. to see how you use the reactive extensions..

santa_boy 14y ago

is there a way to create a portable version of the windows app?