git/list[1] front-page[2] threads[3] people[4] search[5] about
 

Re: [PATCH 3/3] Teach "git branch" about --new-workdir

From
Marius Storm-Olsen <marius@trolltech.com>
Date
Jul 25, 2007, 12:10 UTC
Message-ID
<46A73DB6.4090007@trolltech.com>
In-Reply-To
<200707251205.48235.andyparkins@gmail.com>
Andy Parkins said the following on 25.07.2007 13:05:
Show 28 quoted lines
> On Wednesday 2007 July 25, Johannes Schindelin wrote:
> 
>> So this leaves me with the question: do Windows users really want
>> a proper native Windows support for Git?  If the answer is yes,
>> why don't they _do_ (as in "not talk") something about it?
> 
> I don't disagree with you at all - it is completely ridiculous for
> Windows users to moan about lack of Windows support without
> contributing any help. However, I think there is a good reason.
> 
> I think it's a chicken and egg problem.  The only reason I started
> making (small) contributions to git was because I was using it
> already.  I didn't set out with the goal "to improve git"; I set
> out looking for a DVCS. Luckily for me, I use Linux so git worked
> pretty well for me straight away.
> 
> The same is not true for Windows users.  Even if we ignore the fact
> that Windows users are notoriously less open-source savvy; it's
> unlikely that we'll get any Windows contributions until there are
> some threshold number of developers using git on Windows.
> 
> Open-source is all about scratching an itch, I can't see how
> Windows developers can get a gitch to scratch without being users
> of git first.  On the positive side though, there surely must come
> a point when the Windows port is "good enough" that it will start
> to gather users and hence developers.  Until then, I suppose it's
> just a matter of shouting "patch" every time a windows user asks
> for a feature :-)
Hi Andy,

Your mail is refreshingly spot on. I agree fully with what you say. I will try to do my part to get Git to this 'threshold', so we can get a proper Windows community behind it too. (It's just a matter of time and resources, which I hope we clear up soon) My first roadmap item will be to get a fully native compile of the built-in code. If we at least have a Git built with native tools, I think we'll have a lot more people wanting(/able?) to contribute.

AFAIK the MinGW port is cross-compiled on Linux, and can be hard to set up on Windows. The required MinGW packages are scattered all over the place. So, it's not impossible at the moment, but I guess most Windows users feel a bit unmotivated to work on the code mostly since they'll have to develop using Cygwin. (I don't know if that's the reason, just a hunch)

So, IMO its not that Windows users don't _want_ to contribute. I think they feel they can't. Let's see if we can fix that. I'll let the list know as soon as I get native builds going.

Later!

-- .marius

Previous: Andy ParkinsNext: Johannes Schindelin
Message 42 of 46 in “Teach "git branch" about --new-workdir”
  1. 3/3 Teach "git branch" about --new-workdirJohannes Schindelin, Jul 22, 2007
  2. Daniel BarkalowJul 22, 2007
  3. Johannes SchindelinJul 22, 2007
  4. Julian PhillipsJul 22, 2007
  5. Johannes SchindelinJul 22, 2007
  6. Julian PhillipsJul 22, 2007
  7. Johannes SchindelinJul 22, 2007
  8. Julian PhillipsJul 22, 2007
  9. Jakub NarebskiJul 22, 2007
  10. Johannes SchindelinJul 22, 2007
  11. Johannes SchindelinJul 22, 2007
  12. Shawn O. PearceJul 23, 2007
  13. Junio C HamanoJul 23, 2007
  14. Shawn O. PearceJul 23, 2007
  15. Shawn O. PearceJul 23, 2007
  16. Johannes SchindelinJul 23, 2007
  17. Johannes SchindelinJul 23, 2007
  18. Marius Storm-OlsenJul 24, 2007
  19. Johannes SchindelinJul 24, 2007
  20. Junio C HamanoJul 24, 2007
  21. Johannes SchindelinJul 24, 2007
  22. Marius Storm-OlsenJul 24, 2007
  23. Julian PhillipsJul 24, 2007
  24. Marius Storm-OlsenJul 24, 2007
  25. Johannes SchindelinJul 24, 2007
  26. Josef WeidendorferJul 24, 2007
  27. Johannes SchindelinJul 24, 2007
  28. Josef WeidendorferJul 24, 2007
  29. Jakub NarebskiJul 25, 2007
  30. Johannes SchindelinJul 24, 2007
  31. Marius Storm-OlsenJul 24, 2007
  32. Marius Storm-OlsenJul 24, 2007
  33. Johannes SchindelinJul 24, 2007
  34. Marius Storm-OlsenJul 24, 2007
  35. Johannes SchindelinJul 24, 2007
  36. Marius Storm-OlsenJul 24, 2007
  37. Alex RiesenJul 24, 2007
  38. Marius Storm-OlsenJul 25, 2007
  39. Johannes SchindelinJul 25, 2007
  40. Steven GrimmJul 25, 2007
  41. Andy ParkinsJul 25, 2007
  42. Marius Storm-OlsenJul 25, 2007
  43. Johannes SchindelinJul 25, 2007
  44. Linus TorvaldsJul 25, 2007
  45. Christian MICHONJul 26, 2007
  46. Julian PhillipsJul 23, 2007

Read the whole thread, see it on lore, or plain text.

$ cat FOOTERMessages come from the public archive at lore.kernel.org/git, fetched every hour. The front page is chosen and written each morning by an AI editor and can be wrong; the threads themselves are the record. About and API. For agents: an MCP server at https://gitlist.dev/mcp, and any thread, story or person page as Markdown by adding .md to its URL (or sending Accept: text/markdown). Details in /llms.txt.