# Git Gems 3 messages from 2011-11-16 to 2011-11-18. Participants: Hilco Wijbenga, Neal Kreitzinger, Ramkumar Ramachandra. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/28951 ## Hilco Wijbenga, 2011-11-16 23:18 Subject: Git Gems Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CAE1pOi1gyshz_502NQvLNAByfwiYXW2fzA%2BEnGKz8tuFrCpkxg%40mail.gmail.com ``` Hi all, Just today, I found out about 'git add -p'. I had never even thought of this but, now that I know, I can't imagine life without it. :-) Actually, it's a bit scary to note that the Git devs apparently aren't just telepathic but they can read my thoughts even before I think them. ;-) All kidding aside, I'm starting to wonder which other Git Gems I don't know about. For me, the list of Git Gems would include Git's Bash command line prompt, 'git add -p', 'git rebase', 'git commit --amend', and 'git-new-workdir'. I realize there are plenty of books and such out there but I'm really just looking for a list of Git commands and/or options that are worth looking into. Finding out more about a particular command/script/option is easy, realizing that a particular one is the one you need is not. Especially, if you don't even know you have a problem. As an example, 'git rebase' didn't really seem useful until I understood (well, more or less) what it did. Until then, I just naively assumed that merge commits and non-linear history were something you simply had to live with. I'm guessing that, like me, a lot of people come to Git with quite a few assumptions and preconceived notions due to their exposure to other SCM tools. :-( Cheers, Hilco ``` ## Neal Kreitzinger, 2011-11-18 00:49 Subject: Re: Git Gems Message-ID: <4EC5ABB7.5010907@gmail.com> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/4EC5ABB7.5010907%40gmail.com In-Reply-To: ``` On 11/16/2011 5:18 PM, Hilco Wijbenga wrote: > Hi all, > > Just today, I found out about 'git add -p'. I had never even thought > of this but, now that I know, I can't imagine life without it. :-) > Actually, it's a bit scary to note that the Git devs apparently aren't > just telepathic but they can read my thoughts even before I think > them. ;-) > > All kidding aside, I'm starting to wonder which other Git Gems I don't > know about. For me, the list of Git Gems would include Git's Bash > command line prompt, 'git add -p', 'git rebase', 'git commit --amend', > and 'git-new-workdir'. I realize there are plenty of books and such > out there but I'm really just looking for a list of Git commands > and/or options that are worth looking into. Finding out more about a > particular command/script/option is easy, realizing that a particular > one is the one you need is not. Especially, if you don't even know you > have a problem. > > As an example, 'git rebase' didn't really seem useful until I > understood (well, more or less) what it did. Until then, I just > naively assumed that merge commits and non-linear history were > something you simply had to live with. I'm guessing that, like me, a > lot of people come to Git with quite a few assumptions and > preconceived notions due to their exposure to other SCM tools. :-( > This book: http://progit.org/ will show you many gems if you take the time to peruse it. v/r, neal ``` ## Ramkumar Ramachandra, 2011-11-18 04:38 Subject: Re: Git Gems Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CALkWK0n6msuDSLP-rjAw93E_fsi3pdPk8S2W%2BfjfQr2rFMrhdQ%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: ``` Hi Hilco, Hilco Wijbenga wrote: > [CC: Git Users ] For the record, this is the official Git list: both "developers" and "users" hang out here. > [...] > As an example, 'git rebase' didn't really seem useful until I > understood (well, more or less) what it did. Until then, I just > naively assumed that merge commits and non-linear history were > something you simply had to live with. I'm guessing that, like me, a > lot of people come to Git with quite a few assumptions and > preconceived notions due to their exposure to other SCM tools. :-( I'm not sure how a listing is going to help; nevertheless, here are a few of the lesser-known features of the top of my head (in no particular order): rerere, attributes, replace refs, filter-branch, blame's -C and -M switches, log's -S switch, custom diff drivers, bundle, submodule, stash, notes, and reflog. [You can find more by digging through the sources] Which brings us to an interesting aside: unlike many other SCMs which have a definite and finite set of features, git is really just a toolkit that grows everyday- various people use various subsets and write up their own custom scripts to help them automate tasks. The "git rev-list/ git rev-parse/ git cat-file" is an awesome trio to start writing shell scripts with :) Cheers. -- Ram ```