Re: [BUG] Colon in remote urls

From: Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de>
Date: Dec 12, 2016, 11:03 UTC
Message-ID: <alpine.DEB.2.20.1612121133220.23160@virtualbox>
In-Reply-To: <20161211110208.642unp7c2i653sav@ikki.ethgen.ch>

Hi Klaus,

On Sun, 11 Dec 2016, Klaus Ethgen wrote:

Show 12 quoted lines

> Am Sa den 10. Dez 2016 um 19:18 schrieb Johannes Schindelin:
> > On Sat, 10 Dec 2016, Klaus Ethgen wrote:
> > > Am Fr den  9. Dez 2016 um 22:32 schrieb Johannes Sixt:
> > > > There are too many systems out there that use a backslash in path names. I
> > > > don't think it is wise to use it also as the quoting character.
> > > Well, the minority, I believe. And only the minority where the command
> > > line git is used anywhere.
> > 
> > Please provide evidence for such bold assumptions.
> 
> How is it "bold" to see that the majority of widows users does not use
> or even like command line tools.

First of all, it is "Windows users", not "widows users", unless, of course, you want to discuss things that are completely inappropriate for this list.

Second, you still did not back up your claim with anything resembling evidence, instead just reiterating your beliefs. That is not good enough.

Third, my experience contradicts your beliefs rather violently.

So let's try some evidence for a change: the 64-bit installer of Git for Windows v2.10.2 was downloaded over 1.25 million times. That is not a negligible number. If you want to go back to v2.8.1, it is even 3.8 million downloads. That is a tall number to call a minority.

Now let's look at your claim that Windows users do not use the command-line. The mere existence of posh-git (Powershell bindings for Git) is already a contradiction to that claim.

Even if that was not enough, the Git for Windows bug tracker is full of reports of users who clearly use the command-line.

And there is more evidence: When comparing the download numbers of the different Git for Windows versions, one thing really sticks out: those versions were downloaded the most (by a factor of more than 2x over the other versions) which were made available through Visual Studio's "Download command-line Git tools" feature, e.g. v2.8.1 and v2.9.0. That is a rather strong indicator that users wanted to use the command-line.

Fourth, even if Windows users were the minority, and even if Windows users were not using the command-line, which are claims soundly refuted by the evidence I presented above, the fact alone that you are talking about putting a group of people at a disadvantage based merely on your belief that they are in a minority should not inform us, the Git developers, on any kind of policy decision.

We will not intentionally break Git usage, or make Git usage hard, for a specific group of Git users, unless there are technical reasons to do that. Demographic reasons do not count.

For example, we will not make Git hard to use for female programmers, on the grounds that they currently constitute a minority.

> I know companies where the "developers" doesn't even know of the
> existent of a git command line use. They look with owe when they see
> that I use a shell to use git.

I must have spoken to hundreds of Git for Windows users, and must have been in communication with many more via email or bug tracker, and I cannot recall a single one who used Git without using the command-line.

Note: I do not count my personal experience here as evidence, but the
numbers alone are a strong indicator to me that your argument has a pretty
weak foundation.

Ciao, Johannes

P.S.: Maybe reply-to-all in the future; it is the custom on this here mailing list.