I was scared of reflog too. Had to use it for the first time recently after I accidentally’d a branch that I hadn’t pushed to remote yet. I was so glad that I could recover it all in <5 commands.
Title text: If that doesn’t fix it, git.txt contains the phone number of a friend of mine who understands git. Just wait through a few minutes of ‘It’s really pretty simple, just think of branches as…’ and eventually you’ll learn the commands that will fix everything.
I really never understood why one would need a GUI for git except for visualizing branches.
I feel like I’m crazy seeing so many people using clicky buttons for tracking files. I need like 4 commands for 95% of what I do and the rest you look up.
You’re already programming! Just learn the tool!
And now there’s a github CLI tool? I hate to beat a dead horse but Microsoft pushing their extended version of an open source tool/protocol is literally the second step of their mantra.
Maybe not a GUI but using a TUI (lazygit) I am certain that I can do everything faster than you could ever do using the CLI. Tbf if a GUI Tool had the same shortcuts it would also be faster.
I use LazyGit on the CLI for a “GUI-like” experience. I find it helps me make smaller more meaningful commits. If I’m working on a feature that enhances or fixes other modules in my repo to support, its trivial when done to make multiple clean commits out of the one feature that isolates the changes in functionality to individual commits instead of one medium commit.
On a large enough repo (e.g., monorepo), its a pain to do using git commands.
Checking the diff before commit, solve merge conflicts
Also if it’s well integrated into the IDE it feels less like using a separate tool. For 95% of what I do the ide/gui feels better (fetch, pull, push, commit, checkout, merge). Usually just 2-4 clicks and no need to type the branch name (ticket number and then some)
For Reflog, reset I use the terminal.
If I had to start github desktop or another seperate gui I would use the terminal that’s integrated into the IDE.
I primarily use GitHub CLI to interact with the GitHub API, not Git. I don’t really see it as an extension of the Git CLI, which I use much more frequently. Everything you can do with it can also be done through their REST API.
I use it for things that aren’t really git features, like:
Syncing repository admin, pull request, and branch control settings across multiple repositories
Checking the status of self-hosted actions runners
Do you use the command line for everything? Do you edit with vim, view diffs with git diff, browse the web with links or lynx?
GUIs are useful tools. I’m happy with VSCode’s git integration. It’s just what I need for basic stuff like staging files and committing. I use the CLI whenever I want to do something like rebasing because I can type that command faster than I can figure out the GUI, but it would be stupid to artificially force myself to use the CLI for everything because of some kind of principal.
Yeah I actually just prefer the command line, I’ve never had to force myself to use it. I even tried using VSC for a bit recently but i couldn’t get myself to like it. I just use nvim with some plugins in a tmux session now and its productive as hell.
Of course I don’t browse the web with the command line. For merging branches, I always merge main into the working branch first, check conflict files, and go through the file finding the diffs and resolving them. I’ve used merge tools before that were sorta nice but I had my own issues with them.
Maybe it’s the type of programming I do. I don’t do any web stuff, so file count is down. For larger code bases I keep a non editor terminal up and will grep -re for word/phrase searching, find to look for specific files, etc. I’ll occasionally use an IDE, typically eclipse based because embedded, but I don’t find myself missing the features they add.
Of course I don’t browse the web with the command line.
That’s my point. Browsing the web with a command line tool is obnoxious - you use a GUI for tasks that you find easier/more pleasant to do with a GUI. The difference is where that line is. When I’m reviewing what work I’ve done and checking through my code for debugging statements and other cruft I don’t want to push, I prefer to have a nice tree view of my change set where I can click on an item, see what I’ve changed, select lines and stage them, select other lines and revert them, etc. I could do all of that with command line tools (though not that many have mouse support) but I already know how to do exactly what I want with VSC so why would I use anything else?
You’re already programming! Just learn the tool!
If someone is incapable of learning the tool, that’s an issue if they’re a developer. But your statement implies that everyone should use the CLI for everything. My point is that it’s a matter of preference. The CLI is not superior and GUIs aren’t superior. They’re both just tools and if you can get your job done quickly and efficiently, that’s all that should matter.
I was looking for this comment. PHP storm and git are like best friends. I very very rarely need to resort to the CLI and generally that’s for hard resetting after I screw something up
Good luck doing anything remotely complicated/useful in git with an IDE. You get a small fraction of what git can do with a tool that allows absolutely 0 scripting and automation.
There are automations. You can even add git hooks iirc. Mostly I find the lint and other code quality integrations nice to have in the IDE, since the inline results allow me to navigate directly to the code
It sounds like you don’t speak from experience. I have all the automation I need. It supports git hooks on top of IDE-only features like code checking.
If I have to fire up my CLI for some mass history rewriting (like changing an author for every commit), or when the repo breaks - so be it. But by not using the CLI I save my fingers and sanity, because committing a bunch of files is several click away with little to no room for error.
I can rebase, patch, drop, rename, merge, revert, cherry pick, and solve conflicts with a click of a button rather than remembering all the commands and whatnot.
Are you able to fall back to normal git commands if you don’t know the shortcuts? This sounds awesome until I can’t remember the syntax to do something I don’t do everyday.
Freaking love TUIs, it’s like they took the convenience of a GUI and the efficiency of the CLI and merged them. As a Neovim and Lazygit user myself it’s amazing what I can accomplish in but a few keypresses.
No matter the GUI you use, you’re leaving a lot of useful functionality on the table. By their nature, you only get a small fraction of git’s features. There are many useful commands I use regularly that are impossible to replicate using GUIs.
A good UI (for you personally) should do all the things you regularly do. Git is a complex and messy enough beast that when I have to use the CLI I’m going off the golden path and copy+pasting something arcane.
Tower is pretty nice for mac user too. I paid for it for a few versions back when I was coding full time. Now I just stuck to source tree for occasional freelance and personal projects.
I’m not sure about the exact commands, but you do something like gh auth login to authenticate the CLI and then something like gh ssh setup to change ssh’s config file to authorize using the GH CLI.
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