Re: Git vc-git.el versus Emacs vc-git.el versus Gits git.el

From: Alexandre Julliard <julliard@winehq.org>
Date: Feb 3, 2009, 10:34 UTC
Message-ID: <87ab93yfjx.fsf@wine.dyndns.org>
In-Reply-To: <18823.47791.359047.560149@hungover.brentg.com>

Brent Goodrick <bgoodr@gmail.com> writes:

Show 6 quoted lines

> Hi,
>
> I have some questions concerning the Emacs Git integration:
>
>  1. What is the difference between git.el and vc-git.el in the
>     git/contrib/emacs directory?

vc-git.el is a backend for the Emacs VC mode, which supports the standard C-x v commands. The advantage is that you can use the same commands for all VCS.

git.el is a project-wide status manager equivalent to pcl-cvs, but specialized for git. Its advantage is that by not trying to be generic it can offer more git-specific functionality that isn't available with VC mode.

They are not exclusive, you can use both at the same time, depending on what operations you are doing.

>  2. There is a vc-git.el in the Emacs top-of-trunk sources, and
>     another one in the git/contrib/emacs directory in the Git
>     sources. Which one should I use?  If I should use the one in
>     Emacs, then why is there one in the Git source tree?

The most recent one is the one in the Emacs trunk, so you should use this if possible. The one in the Git tree is an older version that's no longer maintained, though it can still be useful if you are running an old Emacs version.

-- 
Alexandre Julliard
julliard@winehq.org