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I am surprised to see so many people mentioning dropbox and git. What does dropbox add that you don't get from git?[1] And/or with git and a decent backup syste

by dfc 14y ago

I am surprised to see so many people mentioning dropbox and git. What does dropbox add that you don't get from git?[1] And/or with git and a decent backup system(tarsnap/duplicity/rsync)? It seems like a lot of extra overhead and data privacy concerns for little gain. What am I missing? [1] I'm not saying this because git is the magic fairy dust. Replace git with hg, darcs etc.

jlgreco 14y ago
Presumably the difference is that you don't have to pull/push. Can't say doing that ever bothered me though. Edit: actually it looks like most people use a bare repo on dropbox so you still push/pull from it. I don't understand the use-case at all then.
- ajasmin 14y ago
  Not having to pull/push is also nice. If you just start editing a file and want to keep working on your laptop at the cafe without having to commit anything.
- beagle3 14y ago
  If you have a bare repo in dropbox, you are essentially using dropbox servers as your git server; except it might silently drop stuff in all replicas on a merge conflict. Or whenever it fancies (dropbox had at least one all-replica data loss bug before). But in return, you don't have to do a 'git push' or 'git pull' or 'git-legit sync'. Personally, I think it's stupid. If it's a non-secret project, host it on github and do a '[le]git sync' every few minutes (from a cronjob, if you insist). If you don't want to expose it on github, why on earth do you trust dropbox to keep it?
  - jlgreco 14y ago
    Hell, doesn't bitbucket support git now? Just use them if your project is uber-secret.
    - beagle3 14y ago
      You're doing it wrong. If your project is uber-secret, you have to host it yourself - not under a big sign that says "come and try to get super secret source code out of me" just above the small "bitbucket" or "paid github" sign.
      - jlgreco 14y ago
        bitbucket has free private repos. If dropbox is private enough for you, bitbucket should be as well. Obviously I just keep my private repos on my own server. Who doesn't have their own server these days anyway?
bradleyland 14y ago
I don't get it either. I've seen entire blog posts dedicated to using Dropbox as a git remote [1]. This is insanity! Git expects very fine grained control over the files in a git repository. I've also seen Dropbox generate "conflicted copies" for files that I don't have open and haven't modified. Literally I've sat and watched Dropbox notices come in about conflicted copies on files that are years old. I opened the folder containing the files and stared as the folder filled up with conflicted copies (which I promptly deleted). There's no way I'd trust Dropbox to touch my git repos. 1: http://intermediaware.com/blog/how-to-use-dropbox-as-a-git-repository http://intermediaware.com/blog/how-to-use-dropbox-as-a-git-r...
UnoriginalGuy 14y ago
Is that a real question? Git is local only. It is not centralised. Are you confusing Git with Github (service)?
- eclipxe 14y ago
  There are plenty of remote Git hosts (Bitbucket, RepositoryHosting, etc)...
  - UnoriginalGuy 14y ago
    Indeed there are. People are using Dropbox as one of them. But saying "why use Git with Dropbox it makes no sense?!" is actually wrong. It makes perfect sense. Git is not centralised. You cannot access your repository from a remote host. Dropbox as well as Github and a number of alternative service allow that.
    - npsimons 14y ago
      Git is as centralized as you want it to be; look up "bare repos" sometime.
    - dfc 14y ago
      I asked a question about the merits of using dropbox and git and I specifically asked what I was moissing. How can a question "be wrong"? You have yet to answer what Dropbox+git offers that git+backup system does not. I cannot access my repository from a remote host? I am guessing that you run windows, I don't. I can ssh into any machine that I need to access.
      - UnoriginalGuy 14y ago
        > How can a question "be wrong"? The question was misinformation. Git within its self doesn't offer a centralised storage system. The question implied it did. You didn't ask for a comparison, you implied there was no comparison to be made because Git already had it all. > You have yet to answer what Dropbox+git offers that git+backup system does not. Nothing. Same thing.
mdellabitta 14y ago
I use version control AND dropbox. Version control for... controlling versions, and Dropbox for sync and immediate recovery of all my work files should something bad happen. Which did happen about two weeks ago. My laptop let the magic smoke out, and my deja dup backup wouldn't restore.

by dfc 14y ago

jlgreco 14y ago

Presumably the difference is that you don't have to pull/push. Can't say doing that ever bothered me though. Edit: actually it looks like most people use a bare repo on dropbox so you still push/pull from it. I don't understand the use-case at all then.

ajasmin 14y ago
Not having to pull/push is also nice. If you just start editing a file and want to keep working on your laptop at the cafe without having to commit anything.
beagle3 14y ago
If you have a bare repo in dropbox, you are essentially using dropbox servers as your git server; except it might silently drop stuff in all replicas on a merge conflict. Or whenever it fancies (dropbox had at least one all-replica data loss bug before). But in return, you don't have to do a 'git push' or 'git pull' or 'git-legit sync'. Personally, I think it's stupid. If it's a non-secret project, host it on github and do a '[le]git sync' every few minutes (from a cronjob, if you insist). If you don't want to expose it on github, why on earth do you trust dropbox to keep it?
- jlgreco 14y ago
  Hell, doesn't bitbucket support git now? Just use them if your project is uber-secret.
  - beagle3 14y ago
    You're doing it wrong. If your project is uber-secret, you have to host it yourself - not under a big sign that says "come and try to get super secret source code out of me" just above the small "bitbucket" or "paid github" sign.
    - jlgreco 14y ago
      bitbucket has free private repos. If dropbox is private enough for you, bitbucket should be as well. Obviously I just keep my private repos on my own server. Who doesn't have their own server these days anyway?

bradleyland 14y ago

I don't get it either. I've seen entire blog posts dedicated to using Dropbox as a git remote [1]. This is insanity! Git expects very fine grained control over the files in a git repository. I've also seen Dropbox generate "conflicted copies" for files that I don't have open and haven't modified. Literally I've sat and watched Dropbox notices come in about conflicted copies on files that are years old. I opened the folder containing the files and stared as the folder filled up with conflicted copies (which I promptly deleted). There's no way I'd trust Dropbox to touch my git repos. 1: http://intermediaware.com/blog/how-to-use-dropbox-as-a-git-repository http://intermediaware.com/blog/how-to-use-dropbox-as-a-git-r...

UnoriginalGuy 14y ago

Is that a real question? Git is local only. It is not centralised. Are you confusing Git with Github (service)?

eclipxe 14y ago
There are plenty of remote Git hosts (Bitbucket, RepositoryHosting, etc)...
- UnoriginalGuy 14y ago
  Indeed there are. People are using Dropbox as one of them. But saying "why use Git with Dropbox it makes no sense?!" is actually wrong. It makes perfect sense. Git is not centralised. You cannot access your repository from a remote host. Dropbox as well as Github and a number of alternative service allow that.
  - npsimons 14y ago
    Git is as centralized as you want it to be; look up "bare repos" sometime.
  - dfc 14y ago
    I asked a question about the merits of using dropbox and git and I specifically asked what I was moissing. How can a question "be wrong"? You have yet to answer what Dropbox+git offers that git+backup system does not. I cannot access my repository from a remote host? I am guessing that you run windows, I don't. I can ssh into any machine that I need to access.
    - UnoriginalGuy 14y ago
      > How can a question "be wrong"? The question was misinformation. Git within its self doesn't offer a centralised storage system. The question implied it did. You didn't ask for a comparison, you implied there was no comparison to be made because Git already had it all. > You have yet to answer what Dropbox+git offers that git+backup system does not. Nothing. Same thing.

mdellabitta 14y ago

I use version control AND dropbox. Version control for... controlling versions, and Dropbox for sync and immediate recovery of all my work files should something bad happen. Which did happen about two weeks ago. My laptop let the magic smoke out, and my deja dup backup wouldn't restore.