Re: Modern Git GUI

From: André Harms <andre.harms@kuhlsolutions.de>
Date: Jan 24, 2010, 20:43 UTC
Message-ID: <e39c1dcf1001241243r38b187b1tcb44b607b7cba8d9@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <vpq636resro.fsf@bauges.imag.fr>

2010/1/24 Matthieu Moy <Matthieu.Moy@grenoble-inp.fr>:

Show 12 quoted lines

> André Harms <andre.harms@kuhlsolutions.de> writes:
>
>> So I thought about developing a new kind of GUI for Git that looks
>> modern and attractive
>
> Every once in a while, someone comes and says "Git GUIs aren't as good
> as I'd expect, I'll write my own". The result is that we have a myriad
> of GUIs (see
> http://git.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/InterfacesFrontendsAndTools#Graphical_Interfaces ),
> many of them being half-finished and/or abandonned. I don't believe
> adding yet-another-one is going to improve the situation, and
> pick-one-and-improve-it is IMHO a much better approach.

Basically I agree with you. And I think you're right that yet another one won't improve the situation immediately. I've to admin, that I didn't think about that very much. So I have to rethink my plan. But my concept is different than the one of other GUIs.

Show 10 quoted lines

>> (you know... some eye-candy stuff) and that is easy to use.
>
> I use mostly the command-line, so I couldn't make a detailed review of
> the existing, but tools like git-cola and a few others sound "modern"
> to me (Qt4 & co).
>
> If you decide to go on with your project, either you want to carry it
> out alone, or you'll have to convince other developers to join. In the
> second case, a good starting point would be to explain why the other
> GUI are not good enough, and why you can't just contribute to them.

If I decide to go on anyhow, I'll work those things out clearly. Thanks for the tip. In my opinion other GUIs aren't intuitve for first-time users and aren't as good for experienced users as the command-line. But a GUI _can_ be helpful for experienced users as well. So there's a hole that can be filled. And my concept is based on a hybrid GUI that also offers a command-line for experienced users. So actions that are made with the built in command-line (console) are visualized. That also might be good for beginners who like to use the command-line but are afraid of using it. If I go on I'll probably use Clutter as GUI toolkit. With it one is able to create real good looking GUIs (though it's not a guarantor for a good GUI).

Thanks for your opinion.