6 ms·

GitHub Android App Released

168 points by Braasch 14y ago

jagira 14y ago
Seems like it allows merging of pull requests. I can now review and merge pull requests while travelling in a bus. :-)
- aw3c2 14y ago
  Don't forget to disconnect and relax every now and then.
  - jagira 14y ago
    :-) Yeah I will. I travel to a neighboring city quite often and have to often deal with urgent issues/PRs. In which case, I use Github's website on my mobile browser, but it kind of sucks.
derwiki 14y ago
I was really disappointed with this -- I was hoping to be able to view source code nicely on my mobile device. Instead, I get a list of repos (not helpful), "news" (not helpful to me), and issues (we use Pivotal Tracker). I just uninstalled the app; I can't think of anything I'd use it for.
- Aqua_Geek 14y ago
  What else would you like to see? (I write an iOS GitHub app and am curious what people find most helpful.)
  - lazerwalker 14y ago
    I personally would love the ability to see commit history and browse through diffs for commits, pull requests, and branch comparisons. When I'm going into a client's office to spend the day working with them, one of the first things I do is spend 10-15 minutes perusing the commit history to see what's changed in the 4-5 days since I last looked at their codebase. I'd love to be able to do that, as well as do code reviews, on the bus/subway on the way into the office.
    - trentmb 14y ago
      Couldn't you do that from your computer the night before?
      - yobbobandana 14y ago
        Free time at home is much more valuable than free time on the bus.
  - executive 14y ago
    ability to edit files in-app
    - derwiki 14y ago
      That sounds hard and error prone. I'd like to see at the very least, sequential commit messages for a topic. Commit diffs would be nice too.
      - executive 14y ago
        maybe; but only reason I would use such an app.
  - etrain 14y ago
    Really strong support for code reviews.
    - btucker 14y ago
      This is what I need to. For when I'm sitting on the train, would be really useful to read through the commits from the day & mark ones for further review.
- masklinn 14y ago
  > I was hoping to be able to view source code nicely on my mobile device That would probably be bloody hard though, making code readable on a mobile device. Also of limited use, if you can't edit it. I could see it useful to e.g. read & review pull requests on the move, but there really isn't much you can do with just a phone's surface. And if you have accessories, why not carry a small laptop you can tether to your phone?
  - jsight 14y ago
    I don't think it would be unusable at all, with the average tablet.
    - mtgx 14y ago
      Is the app even optimized for tablets?
      - biafra 14y ago
        It is not available for any of my tablets. (Notionink Adam, Transformer Prime and lg slate)
  - benatkin 14y ago
    Many of us are already reading code on our mobile devices.
  - jamesbritt 14y ago
    A combination (on Android) of aGit, the patched Connectbot (for sshagent key handling) and Terminal IDE (better editing options than connectbot) would work. Maybe install the Hacker Keyboard app too (nicer layout for onscreen keyboard). aGit currently does not support push and commit, but I believe that is in the works. I've used this setup on my Transformer Prime. My G2 phone is, of course, smaller, but I have used that to shell into my server and edit config files to fix a problem, so reading and editing code on a mobile device is certainly doable. A 7" screen device such as the Nexus 7 might a nice balance though I have physical keyboards for my phone and tablet, which I really like. I have done some editing using the on-screen keyboard on the TF201, not the end of the world, just not as nice as a more conventional keyboard. The constant toggling to get to special keys is tedious.
ninetax 14y ago
Hubroid[1] has been an awesome github app for android for a long time. Considering that I get a force close when just trying to open the new app, it's still a viable option. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.idlesoft.android.apps.github&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.idlesoft.a...
- lallysingh 14y ago
  Indeed, I'm a little surprised they didn't just fork off an existing github project! And seriously, why's editing and committing from android tablets so far fetched??
- EddieRingle 14y ago
  Hubroid developer here. I was in contact with the GitHub team for awhile and had a good idea that the app was in development for awhile, but since I didn't know when they'd be releasing it (internship with them fell through this year so I didn't get any top-secret info) I just decided to keep up developing Hubroid. Still going to do that, of course, I like my design ideas better. ;) Oh, and the force close you get is sort of my fault. I erroneously used the "com.github" namespace when implementing the account authenticator, which wholly belongs to GitHub. Thought I was using "com.github.eddieringle" but I guess a commit was overridden once or twice. Whoops. EDIT: Btw, thanks for spelling the name correctly. I couldn't tell you how many times people write "Hubdroid" instead. Ruins my Google search result ranking, heh.
  - ninetax 14y ago
    Haha, well that is certainly one way to stick it to your competition ;) But seriously, great app. Keep up the good work!
brittohalloran 14y ago
It's open source -- and hosted on Github. Awesome.
- shimon_e 14y ago
  Gives them an easy April 1st prank. Move the project to bitbucket. // Comment written while my flight is delayed. // Note to self. Download this app and do some github work next time flight is delayed.
musashibaka 14y ago
Lately I have been finding myself surfing github just to read other folks source. I just downloaded the app. Unfortunately it doesn't currently display source... Bummer.
georgehaake 14y ago
Linux desktop app???
- tych0 14y ago
  http://git-scm.com/ http://git-scm.com/ works pretty well.
- zalew 14y ago
  purpose?
  - tar 14y ago
    What is the purpose of the Mac OS Desktop app?
    - zalew 14y ago
      frankly, I have no idea, but win/mac users love to app-everything and except people with IT background, if you can't install and click on something it's like it doesn't exist. linux community is a bit different, and when you narrow the target: using linux + using git + using github, the probability he needs a desktop client is very low and it wouldn't get so much traction. I work on linux and I often use gui tools for my hg/git repos, but it's eclipse extensions where I do my code, I can't even think of a use case for a standalone gui app.
      - greyfade 14y ago
        I've had a few situations where I found it easier to review commits, retag, and merge from `gitk`, which sadly has a very confusing UI, over the command-line, where it's difficult sometimes to keep mental track of commit trees.
    - mxey 14y ago
      Github for Mac is much easier to use than the Git CLI. Something similar to Linux would be great so I don't have to explain the weird Git commands to everyone who wants to do a quick contribution.
Sephr 14y ago
If there's only one action in the overflow button in the action bar, you make that the button. In this app, the only action in the overflow button is "Refresh", so the app should simply just have a refresh button there instead.
- foresterh 14y ago
  Or implement pull down to refresh, which would remove the need for the button altogether.
AYBABTME 14y ago
Would love if I could clone repos on the sdcard, and push commits from the sdcard. So far the app doesn't even allow to browse code, so I have a hard time figuring out any use for it. I don't really care about news, and viewing commits is fine, but I can't even see the diff so... I don't know. I assume it's just a start, so I'll keep it and wait for updates to see how it goes.

168 points by Braasch 14y ago

jagira 14y ago

Seems like it allows merging of pull requests. I can now review and merge pull requests while travelling in a bus. :-)

aw3c2 14y ago
Don't forget to disconnect and relax every now and then.
- jagira 14y ago
  :-) Yeah I will. I travel to a neighboring city quite often and have to often deal with urgent issues/PRs. In which case, I use Github's website on my mobile browser, but it kind of sucks.

derwiki 14y ago

I was really disappointed with this -- I was hoping to be able to view source code nicely on my mobile device. Instead, I get a list of repos (not helpful), "news" (not helpful to me), and issues (we use Pivotal Tracker). I just uninstalled the app; I can't think of anything I'd use it for.

Aqua_Geek 14y ago
What else would you like to see? (I write an iOS GitHub app and am curious what people find most helpful.)
- lazerwalker 14y ago
  I personally would love the ability to see commit history and browse through diffs for commits, pull requests, and branch comparisons. When I'm going into a client's office to spend the day working with them, one of the first things I do is spend 10-15 minutes perusing the commit history to see what's changed in the 4-5 days since I last looked at their codebase. I'd love to be able to do that, as well as do code reviews, on the bus/subway on the way into the office.
  - trentmb 14y ago
    Couldn't you do that from your computer the night before?
    - yobbobandana 14y ago
      Free time at home is much more valuable than free time on the bus.
- executive 14y ago
  ability to edit files in-app
  - derwiki 14y ago
    That sounds hard and error prone. I'd like to see at the very least, sequential commit messages for a topic. Commit diffs would be nice too.
    - executive 14y ago
      maybe; but only reason I would use such an app.
- etrain 14y ago
  Really strong support for code reviews.
  - btucker 14y ago
    This is what I need to. For when I'm sitting on the train, would be really useful to read through the commits from the day & mark ones for further review.
masklinn 14y ago
> I was hoping to be able to view source code nicely on my mobile device That would probably be bloody hard though, making code readable on a mobile device. Also of limited use, if you can't edit it. I could see it useful to e.g. read & review pull requests on the move, but there really isn't much you can do with just a phone's surface. And if you have accessories, why not carry a small laptop you can tether to your phone?
- jsight 14y ago
  I don't think it would be unusable at all, with the average tablet.
  - mtgx 14y ago
    Is the app even optimized for tablets?
    - biafra 14y ago
      It is not available for any of my tablets. (Notionink Adam, Transformer Prime and lg slate)
- benatkin 14y ago
  Many of us are already reading code on our mobile devices.
- jamesbritt 14y ago
  A combination (on Android) of aGit, the patched Connectbot (for sshagent key handling) and Terminal IDE (better editing options than connectbot) would work. Maybe install the Hacker Keyboard app too (nicer layout for onscreen keyboard). aGit currently does not support push and commit, but I believe that is in the works. I've used this setup on my Transformer Prime. My G2 phone is, of course, smaller, but I have used that to shell into my server and edit config files to fix a problem, so reading and editing code on a mobile device is certainly doable. A 7" screen device such as the Nexus 7 might a nice balance though I have physical keyboards for my phone and tablet, which I really like. I have done some editing using the on-screen keyboard on the TF201, not the end of the world, just not as nice as a more conventional keyboard. The constant toggling to get to special keys is tedious.

ninetax 14y ago

Hubroid[1] has been an awesome github app for android for a long time. Considering that I get a force close when just trying to open the new app, it's still a viable option. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.idlesoft.android.apps.github&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.idlesoft.a...

lallysingh 14y ago
Indeed, I'm a little surprised they didn't just fork off an existing github project! And seriously, why's editing and committing from android tablets so far fetched??
EddieRingle 14y ago
Hubroid developer here. I was in contact with the GitHub team for awhile and had a good idea that the app was in development for awhile, but since I didn't know when they'd be releasing it (internship with them fell through this year so I didn't get any top-secret info) I just decided to keep up developing Hubroid. Still going to do that, of course, I like my design ideas better. ;) Oh, and the force close you get is sort of my fault. I erroneously used the "com.github" namespace when implementing the account authenticator, which wholly belongs to GitHub. Thought I was using "com.github.eddieringle" but I guess a commit was overridden once or twice. Whoops. EDIT: Btw, thanks for spelling the name correctly. I couldn't tell you how many times people write "Hubdroid" instead. Ruins my Google search result ranking, heh.
- ninetax 14y ago
  Haha, well that is certainly one way to stick it to your competition ;) But seriously, great app. Keep up the good work!

brittohalloran 14y ago

It's open source -- and hosted on Github. Awesome.

shimon_e 14y ago
Gives them an easy April 1st prank. Move the project to bitbucket. // Comment written while my flight is delayed. // Note to self. Download this app and do some github work next time flight is delayed.

musashibaka 14y ago

Lately I have been finding myself surfing github just to read other folks source. I just downloaded the app. Unfortunately it doesn't currently display source... Bummer.

georgehaake 14y ago

Linux desktop app???

tych0 14y ago
http://git-scm.com/ http://git-scm.com/ works pretty well.
zalew 14y ago
purpose?
- tar 14y ago
  What is the purpose of the Mac OS Desktop app?
  - zalew 14y ago
    frankly, I have no idea, but win/mac users love to app-everything and except people with IT background, if you can't install and click on something it's like it doesn't exist. linux community is a bit different, and when you narrow the target: using linux + using git + using github, the probability he needs a desktop client is very low and it wouldn't get so much traction. I work on linux and I often use gui tools for my hg/git repos, but it's eclipse extensions where I do my code, I can't even think of a use case for a standalone gui app.
    - greyfade 14y ago
      I've had a few situations where I found it easier to review commits, retag, and merge from `gitk`, which sadly has a very confusing UI, over the command-line, where it's difficult sometimes to keep mental track of commit trees.
  - mxey 14y ago
    Github for Mac is much easier to use than the Git CLI. Something similar to Linux would be great so I don't have to explain the weird Git commands to everyone who wants to do a quick contribution.

Sephr 14y ago

If there's only one action in the overflow button in the action bar, you make that the button. In this app, the only action in the overflow button is "Refresh", so the app should simply just have a refresh button there instead.

foresterh 14y ago
Or implement pull down to refresh, which would remove the need for the button altogether.

AYBABTME 14y ago

Would love if I could clone repos on the sdcard, and push commits from the sdcard. So far the app doesn't even allow to browse code, so I have a hard time figuring out any use for it. I don't really care about news, and viewing commits is fine, but I can't even see the diff so... I don't know. I assume it's just a start, so I'll keep it and wait for updates to see how it goes.