157 lines
8.4 KiB
Markdown
157 lines
8.4 KiB
Markdown
# gitredux - Let's remake the git CLI
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This project takes inspiration from [gitless](http://gitless.com/) and [legit](https://github.com/kennethreitz/legit), and is
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influenced by this [blog post](http://www.saintsjd.com/2012/01/a-better-ui-for-git/) and this [fantastic diatribe](http://stevebennett.me/2012/02/24/10-things-i-hate-about-git).
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However, I feel all of these tools are either *underdeveloped* or *too opinionated*. I want a tool that gives me all the
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same control as git but without the headache of its impossible to remember commands.
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### Project Goals
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1. Stay as close to the original jargon of git as possible, rather than create a dialect or "new" abstractions.
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- Some exceptions must be made for the horribly confusing unintuitive names.
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* Have a consistant, predictable command names
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* Have more useful and predictable default behaviors
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* Make recovering from mistakes easier
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### Equivalent Command List
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#### Stage operations
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There are a lot of really terribly named commands here: add, reset, checkout. (checkout? What is this, SVN?) They are probably named so because they are seen from the point-of-view of the stage, rather than the working directory. But since the stage is a new concept to beginners, thinking from the working directory point-of-view is how most new users (or even most normal developers) think.
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So here is where I make perhaps the biggest naming changes. Updating the stage copy of a file is now `stage` as a verb. Reseting the stage copy is now called `unstage`. `get reset` now resets the file in the working directory, rather than the file in the stage.
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get | git equivalent
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--- | --------------
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get add *untracked_file* | git add *untracked_file*
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get rm *tracked_file* | git rm -r *tracked_file* Then prompt y/n to delete untracked files in deleted directories.
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get stage | git add -u :/
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get stage *tracked_file* | git add *tracked_file*
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get unstage | git reset HEAD
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get unstage *staged_file* | git reset HEAD *staged_file*
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get reset | git checkout -f HEAD
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get reset *file* | git checkout *file*
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#### Making commits/branches/tags
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Here I mostly just enhanced the porcelain commands. At some point, I would like to consolidate the syntax for creating and deleting things, where things can be branches, tags, remotes, etc.
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get | git equivalent
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--- | --------------
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get commit | Prompts for commit message inline, rather than opening a text editor
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get commit *message* | git commit -m *message*
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get undo commit | git reset --soft HEAD~1
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get branch *branch* | stashes working tree, creates or switches branch, and checks out branch
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get rmbranch *branch* | git branch -d *branch* *TODO: rename?*
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get tag *tag* | git tag *tag*
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get untag *tag* | Deletes local tag and shows Y/N prompt to delete remote tag.
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get branches | Print all local and remote branches sorted by last commit date, and more.
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For `get branches` it's easiest just to show an example:
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```console
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user@host:~/project get branches
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2 days ago c1632be master -> origin/master
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* 11 days ago 1e8eab0 develop -> origin/develop (merged)
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5 months ago d58b929 feature/historical -> ? (merged)
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5 months ago 3b22622 save -> ?
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2 days ago c1632be origin/HEAD
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2 days ago c1632be origin/master
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11 days ago 1e8eab0 origin/develop
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11 days ago 1e8eab0 origin/will
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4 weeks ago f58098a origin/paul
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```
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#### Viewing changes
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By default, all diff commands compare the working directory to something else. By default, that something else is HEAD, not the stage as it is in git, because I think the most common query is "what have I changed since my last commit?" not "what is different between the stage and my working directory?". STAGE refers to the git staging area. I choose to always use the keyword *stage* rather than *index*, because they're the same thing and having two names for the same thing is unnecessarily confusing. And calling it the *cache* in the --cached option just makes it even worse. I avoid the stage/index/cached confusion by choosing to give it a name (STAGE) and treating it like a special reference akin to HEAD.
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get | git equivalent
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--- | --------------
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get status | git status
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get review | git diff --cached
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get diff | compare working tree with HEAD (git diff HEAD)
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get diff STAGE | compare working tree with stage (git diff)
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get diff *ref* | compare working tree with *ref* (git diff *ref*)
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get diff STAGE *ref* | compare stage with *ref* (git diff --cached *ref*)
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get diff *refA* *refB* | compare *refA* with *refB* (git diff *refA* *refB*)
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#### Working with remotes
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Here, I want practicality and "it just works (TM)". The clone command installs submodules by default. I am (slowly) adding support for popular hosting services. Right now its just Github but I will probably add Bitbucket.
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The biggest grievance when working with remotes is the "git pull" command. Which as anyone will tell you, just does "git fetch" followed by "git merge". But merging can be downright dangerous, especially if you have unsaved changed, leading to unsuccessful "git pull" attempts. I am going to avoid "pull" altogether, but to speed things up, my "fetch" operation goes ahead and fast-forwards branches.
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get | git equivalent
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--- | --------------
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get clone *PATH* | git clone --recurse-submodules [-b *branch*] *PATH* <ul><li> Paths like "username/repo" will be expanded to a Github URL. </li> <li> Paths like "repo" will be expanded to a Github url if your username is stored in git config. </li> <li> Paths ending with #*branch* (the URL style used by NPM and Bower) will clone that branch. </ul>
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get fetch | Fetches all remotes and fast-forwards local branches when possible
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get fetch *branches* | Fetches and fast-forwards the specified branches
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get push | pushes to upstream. <ul><li> If upstream not set, prompt user to name a remote branch. </li> <li> If multiple remotes exist, prompt for which remote to use. </li></ul>
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get remote | Interactive prompt to add a remote.
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#### Miscellaneous
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get | git equivalent
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--- | --------------
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get log | git log --graph --pretty=format:'%h - %d %s (%cr) <%an>' --abbrev-commit -10
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get ignore *file* | Adds *file* to the current .gitignore file
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get submodule | Finds all git repos underneath the main repo and makes them submodules
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get squash *n* | Squash the last *n* commits into one commit. <ul><li> Prompts for a new commit message. </li><li> Moves HEAD without actually deleting the old commits. </li></ul>
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#### Shortcuts
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Because sometimes you just want to type one letter.
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Short Aliases | Full
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--------------|-----
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get ? | get status
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get + | get add
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get - | get rm
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get = | get stage
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get ! | get commit
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get @ | get branch
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get # | get tag
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get ^ | get push
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### Why?
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I started this project because `git log --no-pager` gives an error. Apparently I wanted `git --no-pager log`. This was the last straw.
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*So I decided to "fix" the git CLI.*
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#### EDIT 1:
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Here is an even better example of the inanity of git CLI. To get the SHA reference of HEAD, which of these would you use?
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```
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git show-ref HEAD --abbrev --hash
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```
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or
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```
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git rev-parse --short HEAD
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```
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Questions:
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* Why are they different results?
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* Why does `show-ref` use `--abbrev` but `rev-parse` use `--short`?
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* Why are the options _after_ `HEAD` in `show-ref` but _before_ `HEAD` in `rev-parse`?
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I leave answering these questions as an exercise to the reader.
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#### EDIT 2:
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Another example of git's terrible option parsing. This command lists all the local branches that have been merged:
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```
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$ git branch --list --merged
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* develop
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feature/latest
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```
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So what do you think this command does?
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```
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$ git branch --merged --list
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fatal: malformed object name --list
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```
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OH MY GOD COULD YOU BE ANY MORE FRAGILE GIT?
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### TODO
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* ~~Now that I've added tab completion, I think "stage" and "status" are too similar.~~
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I've solved that for now by adding short aliases 'get =' and 'get ?'. Not intuitive,
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but I didn't want to rename status or stage. (Remember, I'm
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trying to keep as much lingo unchanged.) It's the same number of keystrokes as if using
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tab completion and one letter. I know, I know, still feels inconvenient somehow.
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* Also, I have ~~three~~ four commands that start with "r" which is a problem for tab completion.
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Seriously considering renaming 'rmbranch' to 'unbranch' to match 'untag' and 'unstage'.
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### Changelog
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- I renamed "update" to "fetch" to avoid completion conflicts with "unstage".
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Also, it really is just fetch + fast-forward. One of my goals is NOT to use
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different terminology than git, because that makes StackOverflow less useful.
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