10 ms·

JS Git: working git clones for offline development in the browser

114 points by bpierre 14y ago

ori_b 14y ago
I'm confused about what problem this is trying to solve. Can someone enlighten me?
- creationix 14y ago
  The main problem it solves is to allow offline development in sandboxed environments like ChromeBooks and Windows RT devices (or even iPads if you had a BT keyboard).
  - shawndumas 14y ago
    My 11yo has a ChromeBook and uses Cloud9 IDE to do all his coding at home. When he's on the go with mom (home-schooling at the park) he can't code; sadness... If he had a git clone in a sandbox he could keep coding; happiness... . backed!
    - creationix 14y ago
      Exactly the kind of person I'm trying to help!!! Thanks for the support.
- MatthewPhillips 14y ago
  Web apps do not have read/write access to the file system. So let's say you wanted to write a text editor web app. You can't modify a user's local files so you are forced to store their data on your servers. You are forced to create some UI for integration with GitHub, Bitbucket, etc. You are forced to add a lot of stuff Sublime and TextMate don't have to worry about... you are forced to build an IDE. This would improve a lot of that kind of thing.
  - ldng 14y ago
    IMHO, that's definitely something Github should have been working on for its paying customers.
nwienert 14y ago
I don't think this page explains well the use cases for this. It alludes to kids programming, but then switches over to explaining how things are sandboxed, why the developer is experienced, etc. My question is what is the net benefit of having this? What does it enable us to do? Why should I back it?
- wesbos 14y ago
  I think he is alluding to programming on an iPad and other locked down devices. It needs to happen in the browser as lower level access isn't an option.
  - jackmaney 14y ago
    This may be a bit of a naive question, but why would anyone want to code on a tablet? Touch keyboards are horribly inefficient and are prettymuch impossible to use for touch typing.
    - nilliams 14y ago
      True, but you can get bluetooth keyboards for tablets, and those keyboard-docking ASUS Transformer-esque tablets, which are likely to grow in popularity. (Sadly iPad plus bluetooth keyboard is currently fairly terrible due to a lack of the most basic keyboard shortcuts).
- creationix 14y ago
  The main thing it allows is developing offline en environments like chromebooks (like the new Pixel). I worked on Cloud9IDE for a year and it was a great experience as long as you were online with a fast connection. With this library, html5 apps will finally be able to do the full developer lifecycle. They can clone from github to the browser's local file storage when online, work offline using an editor like ace or codemirror, and then when they are online again, they can push their changes back to github. I'll implement branching, merging, diffing, and as many other awesome common tasks from git as possible. I've wanted this for years and I'm super excited to finally be able to create it when this kickstarter finishes!
tjholowaychuk 14y ago
Good luck man! Sounds like a fun project
AaronO 14y ago
Nice project. I've been working on Dulwich (a pure python implementation of the Git protocol) as well as a higher level abstraction. I would definitely be interested in contributing to JS Git.
MatthewPhillips 14y ago
Will Git source compile with clang? If so emscripten is a possibility.
- TheMakeA 14y ago
  In the past I investigated compiling libgit2 with emscripten. Didn't spend a lot of time on it but I wonder if that could work.
  - creationix 14y ago
    I will explore this as one of the possibilities. I'm not dead set of reimplementing everything myself. If using an existing JS library and finishing it or compiling an existing C library using emscripten is the best, then I'll do that.. The point is I'll spend the proper time to evaluate all the options and fill in any gaps needed to have a solid solution.
  - zodiac 14y ago
    fwiw I managed to compile libgit2 with emscripten - https://github.com/zodiac/libgit2 https://github.com/zodiac/libgit2
espadrine 14y ago
How will it work on non-Filesystem API browsers (that is, all of them except Google Chrome and… BB10)? Are there plans? http://caniuse.com/#feat=filesystem http://caniuse.com/#feat=filesystem
- MatthewPhillips 14y ago
  IndexedDB can store blobs. There's even a FileSystem API polyfill that uses IndexedDB: http://ericbidelman.tumblr.com/post/21649963613/idb-filesystem-js-bringing-the-html5-filesystem-api http://ericbidelman.tumblr.com/post/21649963613/idb-filesyst...
  - creationix 14y ago
    Thanks Matthew, that's the plan. Also since the target audience is developers, I don't have to support ancient browsers. This isn't a news site for the general public, it's a developer library.
    - MatthewPhillips 14y ago
      I wrote a library that brings Node's fs module to the browser. It transparently uses the File System API in Chrome and IndexedDB in Firefox (and presumable IE10, haven't tested it there). Feel free to use/contribute ;) https://github.com/matthewp/fs https://github.com/matthewp/fs
artagnon 14y ago
A pure Javascript implementation of git? 0. Why is this a good idea? Have all the desktops and laptops died, and are people forced to use Mozilla OS for development? I'd vastly prefer native applications on iPad, Windows RT, Android and other such platforms (if I suddenly went crazy and decided to do development on them). And a PNaCl application on Chromebook, if that's what you're specifically targeting. 1. Why won't it die like git.js did? [1] Why aren't you working on extending git.js? 2. Where can I see a technical roadmap? You're planning to deflate, applying deltas, huge packfiles with 4G objects in Javascript? What performance guarantees can you make? 3. Git is not a dumb book-keeper where you just checkout, make changes, and checkin. How are you going to replicate what makes git so awesome: `rebase -i`, `filter-branch`, `rerere`, pickaxe, and so many other features? [1]: https://github.com/danlucraft/git.js https://github.com/danlucraft/git.js
- creationix 14y ago
  I want this, I know many people who want this. That's good enough in my book to create it. If enough people believe in the idea enough to fund me, then it's a good idea. I know this is a hard project, that's why I haven't done it yet in my free time. I realize that this will require my full-time attention. But click through the links of my other projects in the kickstarter. I'm not new to hard problems and low-level coding in JavaScript. I don't have a detailed roadmap and I can't make performance guarantees because I don't know yet. But I do know that I'll do whatever is possible within the constraints of a web browser. Again, I'm not new to these constraints. I believe the web is finally mature enough to pull something like this off.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
- rektide 14y ago
  0. is a solved problem: this Kickstarter is for a library, not an application. There are already native libraries for git, so go ahead and go crazy and get busy developing, via libgit2, egit, ngit, objective-git, or any of the others. You come off as tyrannically dogmatic without having any real use case- you're poo poo'ing a web platform without any expressed reason for wanting a native stuff aside from it being native. -1. (And, humor, the native stuff exists.)
jackmaney 14y ago
Now that GitHub has the ability to move files within a repo (https://github.com/blog/1436-moving-and-renaming-files-on-github https://github.com/blog/1436-moving-and-renaming-files-on-gi...) what will JS Git be able to do that can't be done by creating, editing, and moving files around in a GitHub repo?
- 67726e 14y ago
  It allows you to work offline. Additionally, not everyone uses GitHub.
shurcooL 14y ago
While I'm not interested in this at the moment (I choose to work with native tools), I can see the value for many other ppl so I've backed your project on Kickstarter and you on Gittip.
- creationix 14y ago
  Thanks!
rektide 14y ago
File API + node.js filesystem shim + node-git. It's been a weekend project somewhere on my todo list for a year, and it'd work just fine as a impl, and requires naught but working some glue into the cracks between these already made pieces. That said, support away, would love to see Tim get this initiative kickstarted & see what solid work he kicks out.
- MatthewPhillips 14y ago
  node-git just calls the git binary, which you won't have in the browser. This project is definitely needed.
  - rektide 14y ago
    Hi MP- https://github.com/christkv/node-git https://github.com/christkv/node-git is the node-git I had in mind: it's a native (js native) impl modeled strongly after the Grit library used heavily by a little company called Github, and I believe it's in pretty OK state although my first hand experience hasn't made it past the touring stages. Sorry for the confusion! I knew Tim had a node-git as well, but I didn't know it relied on the binary or other native type stuff (such as a a library binding), so I didn't think the naming collision I let happen would cause any confusion. Is there anything else I'm missing in my equation?
    - MatthewPhillips 14y ago
      Thanks, I wasn't aware of this library. I might take a stab at it this weekend myself, if I have some free time ;)
vjeux 14y ago
"Today there are fewer and fewer kids getting into programming because consumer devices are locked down and don't come with a way to program them." I honestly doubt this is the case, I would expect more and more kids are getting into programming because it has become so widespread and easy.
- jackmaney 14y ago
  Agreed. In fact, I'd like to see anything resembling evidence that a) "fewer and fewer kids [are] getting into programming" and b) if so, that it's caused by some devices being locked down.
  - creationix 14y ago
    I can only judge on what I've seen personally and what I've heard from industry leaders and both line up. Wherever I'm living I go around to schools and groups looking for kids to teach programming to. They all have computers of some sort (mostly iPhones and some tablets), but don't know how in the world they can develop on them. The only way to write native apps for iOS is to buy an apple laptop, get a developer license and learn an advanced programming language. That's beyond the reach of most kids. Now suppose that new websites popped up using my library and all the kid needed was a device with a modern browser and optionally a bluetooth keyboard? They could learn JavaScript and write webapps. There is huge demand for new programmers in our economy and most kids only see electronics as consumption devices. Speaking of, my Chromebook just arrived via UPS, now for some fun!
    - BHSPitMonkey 14y ago
      > They all have computers of some sort (mostly iPhones and some tablets), but don't know how in the world they can develop on them. The only way to write native apps for iOS is to buy an apple laptop, get a developer license and learn an advanced programming language. That's beyond the reach of most kids. It is pretty burdensome that you do need to have an Apple computer (or hackintosh, or complicated unofficial toolchain) in order to developer for iOS, you actually don't need a developer license to start developing apps. You just open the Mac App Store and grab Xcode these days. You do need the $99 subscription in order to test on a device (very unfortunately), and to publish in the App Store. But in spite of these things, if you're a new developer with access to OSX, iOS development is quite accessible and easy to get started with.
nicholassmith 14y ago
I've just read that a few times and I'm still none the wiser. You want a working git implementation in the browser, okay, cool. Why? What for? I don't want to just disparage, I'm genuinely in favour of anything that gets good tools to more people, but I'm completely at a loss at the why from reading the Kickstarter page.
- creationix 14y ago
  So I can develop offline using nothing more than a browser. I clone a repo from github to my browser when I'm online. Then I'm offline in a bus or on a plane, but I can still work because browsers have file storage now. When I'm done working, I can go online and push my changes back to github. And all this will work anywhere that has a browser, ChromeBook, Surface RT, iPad, etc.. Obviously, it's mostly of use to web developers since JS is the only runtime, but I also have other later projects attacking that problem. But for now, JS only is a pretty big market.
  - nicholassmith 14y ago
    Hey, thanks for the reply! Couple of things, repos can get pretty big, how are you planning on storing things? Using the HTML5 storage? Kicking it down the drive? If it's with HTML5 storage after that guy found a work around allowing sites to completely burn through a drive browser devs might start putting a cap onto the limit of storage that you can use. I don't know, I'm a big fan of getting tools to everyone, but I'm still wondering if this sounds like a great idea, without actually being a great idea. EDIT: that last line might be a little overly harsh looking back on it, it's not that I don't think it's a good idea (definitely is!) but I'm wondering if it's a great idea that's worthy of a Kickstarter.
    - creationix 14y ago
      Like I said, my main use case is mine. I want to develop on my new ChromeBook Pixel (if it ever gets here) without being forced to use an Ubuntu chroot. Packaged apps have much larger size quotas and most my code repos are small anyway. As far as the education aspect, I have future plans to create a new programming language aimed at learning to program that compiles to javascript. Combined with a proper in-browser IDE, this would allow any kid to learn to program on any machine that has a browser. It obviously won't replace native dev tools, but it will make web-based stuff a whole lot more powerful and that's something I and many others feel is worth paying for.
drrotmos 14y ago
I'm a bit intrigued. As the main developer of a Git library[1] myself (in pure PHP, not depending on the git binary or esoteric extensions), I have no doubt that the actual parsing of the git objects and packfiles will be very much possible to achieve in a browser environment. [1]: https://github.com/e-butik/Gittern/ https://github.com/e-butik/Gittern/ However, there are technical considerations. For example, pack files can get pretty large (indeed version 2 packfiles supports files > 4 GB), and I doubt browsers are optimized for random access to large files (so you wouldn't have to load the entire file in memory). Another potential problem would be pushing and pulling. The dumb HTTP transport is obviously possible to use (but rarely supported anymore), and the smart HTTP transport should be able to get working, but for implementing the git protocol, or git+ssh you'd need regular sockets, which AFAIK browsers don't provide. I do however wish the author the best of luck with this project, and since I see that he's here, I will leave with links to a few resources I found useful: * http://git-scm.com/book/en/Git-Internals http://git-scm.com/book/en/Git-Internals * http://opensource.apple.com/source/Git/Git-26/src/git-htmldocs/technical/index-format.txt http://opensource.apple.com/source/Git/Git-26/src/git-htmldo... * http://www.opensource.apple.com/source/Git/Git-17/src/git-htmldocs/technical/pack-format.txt http://www.opensource.apple.com/source/Git/Git-17/src/git-ht... * http://git.rsbx.net/Documents/Git_Data_Formats.txt http://git.rsbx.net/Documents/Git_Data_Formats.txt
- creationix 14y ago
  Thanks for the links. You are correct that I probably won't be able to support all git repos because of memory constraints and unless I get special APIs from the browser I won't be able to do git protocol or git over ssh. I do feel pretty confident that I can implement dumb and smart HTTP though. Even if this library can't be used for everything, it will allow a whole lot more use cases that are currently possible.
  - maksimlin 14y ago
    I'd say smart http is more than enough, especially since Github for example is pushing it as the preferred protocol for most users: https://github.com/blog/1104-credential-caching-for-wrist-friendly-git-usage https://github.com/blog/1104-credential-caching-for-wrist-fr... The main issue is that Github do not have CORS support for http access to repos (though they do support CORS for access to repos via their proprietary API) and I don't think the other big public hosters like Bitbucket or Google Code support CORS either. On the subject of big pack files, sure you'd want to stream them to storage instead of trying to store in memory (for instance JGit has this as an option) but I agree Tim that to start with, even supporting small-medium size repos would be a huge win.
goldfeld 14y ago
I decided I like this guy a lot by the projects he has under his belt. Always nice to see a prolific open source contributor getting financial support out in the open like this. And this project seems like something I could use in the future.
- zellyn 14y ago
  Agreed. I'm in for $25. :-)
meryn 14y ago
Tim, do you know about https://github.com/danlucraft/git.js https://github.com/danlucraft/git.js ?
tlrobinson 14y ago
I wonder how hard it would be to just compile the real git implementation with Emscripten? Isn't it mostly C?

114 points by bpierre 14y ago

ori_b 14y ago

I'm confused about what problem this is trying to solve. Can someone enlighten me?

creationix 14y ago
The main problem it solves is to allow offline development in sandboxed environments like ChromeBooks and Windows RT devices (or even iPads if you had a BT keyboard).
- shawndumas 14y ago
  My 11yo has a ChromeBook and uses Cloud9 IDE to do all his coding at home. When he's on the go with mom (home-schooling at the park) he can't code; sadness... If he had a git clone in a sandbox he could keep coding; happiness... . backed!
  - creationix 14y ago
    Exactly the kind of person I'm trying to help!!! Thanks for the support.
MatthewPhillips 14y ago
Web apps do not have read/write access to the file system. So let's say you wanted to write a text editor web app. You can't modify a user's local files so you are forced to store their data on your servers. You are forced to create some UI for integration with GitHub, Bitbucket, etc. You are forced to add a lot of stuff Sublime and TextMate don't have to worry about... you are forced to build an IDE. This would improve a lot of that kind of thing.
- ldng 14y ago
  IMHO, that's definitely something Github should have been working on for its paying customers.

nwienert 14y ago

I don't think this page explains well the use cases for this. It alludes to kids programming, but then switches over to explaining how things are sandboxed, why the developer is experienced, etc. My question is what is the net benefit of having this? What does it enable us to do? Why should I back it?

wesbos 14y ago
I think he is alluding to programming on an iPad and other locked down devices. It needs to happen in the browser as lower level access isn't an option.
- jackmaney 14y ago
  This may be a bit of a naive question, but why would anyone want to code on a tablet? Touch keyboards are horribly inefficient and are prettymuch impossible to use for touch typing.
  - nilliams 14y ago
    True, but you can get bluetooth keyboards for tablets, and those keyboard-docking ASUS Transformer-esque tablets, which are likely to grow in popularity. (Sadly iPad plus bluetooth keyboard is currently fairly terrible due to a lack of the most basic keyboard shortcuts).
creationix 14y ago
The main thing it allows is developing offline en environments like chromebooks (like the new Pixel). I worked on Cloud9IDE for a year and it was a great experience as long as you were online with a fast connection. With this library, html5 apps will finally be able to do the full developer lifecycle. They can clone from github to the browser's local file storage when online, work offline using an editor like ace or codemirror, and then when they are online again, they can push their changes back to github. I'll implement branching, merging, diffing, and as many other awesome common tasks from git as possible. I've wanted this for years and I'm super excited to finally be able to create it when this kickstarter finishes!

tjholowaychuk 14y ago

Good luck man! Sounds like a fun project

AaronO 14y ago

Nice project. I've been working on Dulwich (a pure python implementation of the Git protocol) as well as a higher level abstraction. I would definitely be interested in contributing to JS Git.

MatthewPhillips 14y ago

Will Git source compile with clang? If so emscripten is a possibility.

TheMakeA 14y ago
In the past I investigated compiling libgit2 with emscripten. Didn't spend a lot of time on it but I wonder if that could work.
- creationix 14y ago
  I will explore this as one of the possibilities. I'm not dead set of reimplementing everything myself. If using an existing JS library and finishing it or compiling an existing C library using emscripten is the best, then I'll do that.. The point is I'll spend the proper time to evaluate all the options and fill in any gaps needed to have a solid solution.
- zodiac 14y ago
  fwiw I managed to compile libgit2 with emscripten - https://github.com/zodiac/libgit2 https://github.com/zodiac/libgit2

espadrine 14y ago

How will it work on non-Filesystem API browsers (that is, all of them except Google Chrome and… BB10)? Are there plans? http://caniuse.com/#feat=filesystem http://caniuse.com/#feat=filesystem

MatthewPhillips 14y ago
IndexedDB can store blobs. There's even a FileSystem API polyfill that uses IndexedDB: http://ericbidelman.tumblr.com/post/21649963613/idb-filesystem-js-bringing-the-html5-filesystem-api http://ericbidelman.tumblr.com/post/21649963613/idb-filesyst...
- creationix 14y ago
  Thanks Matthew, that's the plan. Also since the target audience is developers, I don't have to support ancient browsers. This isn't a news site for the general public, it's a developer library.
  - MatthewPhillips 14y ago
    I wrote a library that brings Node's fs module to the browser. It transparently uses the File System API in Chrome and IndexedDB in Firefox (and presumable IE10, haven't tested it there). Feel free to use/contribute ;) https://github.com/matthewp/fs https://github.com/matthewp/fs

artagnon 14y ago

A pure Javascript implementation of git? 0. Why is this a good idea? Have all the desktops and laptops died, and are people forced to use Mozilla OS for development? I'd vastly prefer native applications on iPad, Windows RT, Android and other such platforms (if I suddenly went crazy and decided to do development on them). And a PNaCl application on Chromebook, if that's what you're specifically targeting. 1. Why won't it die like git.js did? [1] Why aren't you working on extending git.js? 2. Where can I see a technical roadmap? You're planning to deflate, applying deltas, huge packfiles with 4G objects in Javascript? What performance guarantees can you make? 3. Git is not a dumb book-keeper where you just checkout, make changes, and checkin. How are you going to replicate what makes git so awesome: `rebase -i`, `filter-branch`, `rerere`, pickaxe, and so many other features? [1]: https://github.com/danlucraft/git.js https://github.com/danlucraft/git.js

creationix 14y ago
I want this, I know many people who want this. That's good enough in my book to create it. If enough people believe in the idea enough to fund me, then it's a good idea. I know this is a hard project, that's why I haven't done it yet in my free time. I realize that this will require my full-time attention. But click through the links of my other projects in the kickstarter. I'm not new to hard problems and low-level coding in JavaScript. I don't have a detailed roadmap and I can't make performance guarantees because I don't know yet. But I do know that I'll do whatever is possible within the constraints of a web browser. Again, I'm not new to these constraints. I believe the web is finally mature enough to pull something like this off.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
rektide 14y ago
0. is a solved problem: this Kickstarter is for a library, not an application. There are already native libraries for git, so go ahead and go crazy and get busy developing, via libgit2, egit, ngit, objective-git, or any of the others. You come off as tyrannically dogmatic without having any real use case- you're poo poo'ing a web platform without any expressed reason for wanting a native stuff aside from it being native. -1. (And, humor, the native stuff exists.)

jackmaney 14y ago

Now that GitHub has the ability to move files within a repo (https://github.com/blog/1436-moving-and-renaming-files-on-github https://github.com/blog/1436-moving-and-renaming-files-on-gi...) what will JS Git be able to do that can't be done by creating, editing, and moving files around in a GitHub repo?

67726e 14y ago
It allows you to work offline. Additionally, not everyone uses GitHub.

shurcooL 14y ago

While I'm not interested in this at the moment (I choose to work with native tools), I can see the value for many other ppl so I've backed your project on Kickstarter and you on Gittip.

creationix 14y ago
Thanks!

rektide 14y ago

File API + node.js filesystem shim + node-git. It's been a weekend project somewhere on my todo list for a year, and it'd work just fine as a impl, and requires naught but working some glue into the cracks between these already made pieces. That said, support away, would love to see Tim get this initiative kickstarted & see what solid work he kicks out.

MatthewPhillips 14y ago
node-git just calls the git binary, which you won't have in the browser. This project is definitely needed.
- rektide 14y ago
  Hi MP- https://github.com/christkv/node-git https://github.com/christkv/node-git is the node-git I had in mind: it's a native (js native) impl modeled strongly after the Grit library used heavily by a little company called Github, and I believe it's in pretty OK state although my first hand experience hasn't made it past the touring stages. Sorry for the confusion! I knew Tim had a node-git as well, but I didn't know it relied on the binary or other native type stuff (such as a a library binding), so I didn't think the naming collision I let happen would cause any confusion. Is there anything else I'm missing in my equation?
  - MatthewPhillips 14y ago
    Thanks, I wasn't aware of this library. I might take a stab at it this weekend myself, if I have some free time ;)

vjeux 14y ago

"Today there are fewer and fewer kids getting into programming because consumer devices are locked down and don't come with a way to program them." I honestly doubt this is the case, I would expect more and more kids are getting into programming because it has become so widespread and easy.

jackmaney 14y ago
Agreed. In fact, I'd like to see anything resembling evidence that a) "fewer and fewer kids [are] getting into programming" and b) if so, that it's caused by some devices being locked down.
- creationix 14y ago
  I can only judge on what I've seen personally and what I've heard from industry leaders and both line up. Wherever I'm living I go around to schools and groups looking for kids to teach programming to. They all have computers of some sort (mostly iPhones and some tablets), but don't know how in the world they can develop on them. The only way to write native apps for iOS is to buy an apple laptop, get a developer license and learn an advanced programming language. That's beyond the reach of most kids. Now suppose that new websites popped up using my library and all the kid needed was a device with a modern browser and optionally a bluetooth keyboard? They could learn JavaScript and write webapps. There is huge demand for new programmers in our economy and most kids only see electronics as consumption devices. Speaking of, my Chromebook just arrived via UPS, now for some fun!
  - BHSPitMonkey 14y ago
    > They all have computers of some sort (mostly iPhones and some tablets), but don't know how in the world they can develop on them. The only way to write native apps for iOS is to buy an apple laptop, get a developer license and learn an advanced programming language. That's beyond the reach of most kids. It is pretty burdensome that you do need to have an Apple computer (or hackintosh, or complicated unofficial toolchain) in order to developer for iOS, you actually don't need a developer license to start developing apps. You just open the Mac App Store and grab Xcode these days. You do need the $99 subscription in order to test on a device (very unfortunately), and to publish in the App Store. But in spite of these things, if you're a new developer with access to OSX, iOS development is quite accessible and easy to get started with.

nicholassmith 14y ago

I've just read that a few times and I'm still none the wiser. You want a working git implementation in the browser, okay, cool. Why? What for? I don't want to just disparage, I'm genuinely in favour of anything that gets good tools to more people, but I'm completely at a loss at the why from reading the Kickstarter page.

creationix 14y ago
So I can develop offline using nothing more than a browser. I clone a repo from github to my browser when I'm online. Then I'm offline in a bus or on a plane, but I can still work because browsers have file storage now. When I'm done working, I can go online and push my changes back to github. And all this will work anywhere that has a browser, ChromeBook, Surface RT, iPad, etc.. Obviously, it's mostly of use to web developers since JS is the only runtime, but I also have other later projects attacking that problem. But for now, JS only is a pretty big market.
- nicholassmith 14y ago
  Hey, thanks for the reply! Couple of things, repos can get pretty big, how are you planning on storing things? Using the HTML5 storage? Kicking it down the drive? If it's with HTML5 storage after that guy found a work around allowing sites to completely burn through a drive browser devs might start putting a cap onto the limit of storage that you can use. I don't know, I'm a big fan of getting tools to everyone, but I'm still wondering if this sounds like a great idea, without actually being a great idea. EDIT: that last line might be a little overly harsh looking back on it, it's not that I don't think it's a good idea (definitely is!) but I'm wondering if it's a great idea that's worthy of a Kickstarter.
  - creationix 14y ago
    Like I said, my main use case is mine. I want to develop on my new ChromeBook Pixel (if it ever gets here) without being forced to use an Ubuntu chroot. Packaged apps have much larger size quotas and most my code repos are small anyway. As far as the education aspect, I have future plans to create a new programming language aimed at learning to program that compiles to javascript. Combined with a proper in-browser IDE, this would allow any kid to learn to program on any machine that has a browser. It obviously won't replace native dev tools, but it will make web-based stuff a whole lot more powerful and that's something I and many others feel is worth paying for.

drrotmos 14y ago

I'm a bit intrigued. As the main developer of a Git library[1] myself (in pure PHP, not depending on the git binary or esoteric extensions), I have no doubt that the actual parsing of the git objects and packfiles will be very much possible to achieve in a browser environment. [1]: https://github.com/e-butik/Gittern/ https://github.com/e-butik/Gittern/ However, there are technical considerations. For example, pack files can get pretty large (indeed version 2 packfiles supports files > 4 GB), and I doubt browsers are optimized for random access to large files (so you wouldn't have to load the entire file in memory). Another potential problem would be pushing and pulling. The dumb HTTP transport is obviously possible to use (but rarely supported anymore), and the smart HTTP transport should be able to get working, but for implementing the git protocol, or git+ssh you'd need regular sockets, which AFAIK browsers don't provide. I do however wish the author the best of luck with this project, and since I see that he's here, I will leave with links to a few resources I found useful: * http://git-scm.com/book/en/Git-Internals http://git-scm.com/book/en/Git-Internals * http://opensource.apple.com/source/Git/Git-26/src/git-htmldocs/technical/index-format.txt http://opensource.apple.com/source/Git/Git-26/src/git-htmldo... * http://www.opensource.apple.com/source/Git/Git-17/src/git-htmldocs/technical/pack-format.txt http://www.opensource.apple.com/source/Git/Git-17/src/git-ht... * http://git.rsbx.net/Documents/Git_Data_Formats.txt http://git.rsbx.net/Documents/Git_Data_Formats.txt

creationix 14y ago
Thanks for the links. You are correct that I probably won't be able to support all git repos because of memory constraints and unless I get special APIs from the browser I won't be able to do git protocol or git over ssh. I do feel pretty confident that I can implement dumb and smart HTTP though. Even if this library can't be used for everything, it will allow a whole lot more use cases that are currently possible.
- maksimlin 14y ago
  I'd say smart http is more than enough, especially since Github for example is pushing it as the preferred protocol for most users: https://github.com/blog/1104-credential-caching-for-wrist-friendly-git-usage https://github.com/blog/1104-credential-caching-for-wrist-fr... The main issue is that Github do not have CORS support for http access to repos (though they do support CORS for access to repos via their proprietary API) and I don't think the other big public hosters like Bitbucket or Google Code support CORS either. On the subject of big pack files, sure you'd want to stream them to storage instead of trying to store in memory (for instance JGit has this as an option) but I agree Tim that to start with, even supporting small-medium size repos would be a huge win.

goldfeld 14y ago

I decided I like this guy a lot by the projects he has under his belt. Always nice to see a prolific open source contributor getting financial support out in the open like this. And this project seems like something I could use in the future.

zellyn 14y ago
Agreed. I'm in for $25. :-)

meryn 14y ago

Tim, do you know about https://github.com/danlucraft/git.js https://github.com/danlucraft/git.js ?

tlrobinson 14y ago

I wonder how hard it would be to just compile the real git implementation with Emscripten? Isn't it mostly C?