Re: [PATCH] Make "git reset" a builtin. (incomplete)

On 8/23/07, Theodore Tso <tytso@mit.edu> wrote:

I know I'm really going to regret entering this discussion but...

_If_ your goal is widening git usage (and you could validly argue it should stay a system for "code hackers"), the big worry is if you want to accomodate on projects that you (as an upstanding traditional *nix person) run where you've pushed for using git and are working with people who work prefer working on windows and they only want to use your git as the SCM for and don't care about git beyond that. The scenario goes:

Windows user: "You want me to use your git repo for development. Ok. Install all those pre-requisites for me if you want me to use SCM regularly." ... Windows user: "Git isn't working. Come here and tell me what's wrong?"

*nix person: "Dunno, I've never seen that before. I wonder what's causing it: is it a git thing I've never seen, is it a bash/Perl-on-Windows weirdness, is it something implemented not as expected in the cygwin libraries, is it native Windows behaviour that's actually "right"? Or is it some mixture of the four? And given that I've never used cygwin and other tools on windows, I'm ******** if I know...."

Windows user: "That's ok, I don't need to commit in this work-in-progress so I won't commit until you've solved the problem."

I personally don't care exactly what's used implementing git on non-unix platforms, but I get nervous as more and more "layers" are added so it becomes more and more difficult to figure which layer a user problem is occurring at. If it looks to difficult to "help out with" issues on Windows, that would be a big enough reason for me not to use git on such projects.