Re: [boost] [git] Mercurial?

Subject: Re: [boost] [git] Mercurial?
From: Thomas Heller (thom.heller_at_[hidden])
Date: 2012-03-20 08:21:50

On 03/20/2012 12:50 PM, Oliver Kullmann wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 20, 2012 at 12:30:31PM +0100, Thomas Heller wrote:
>> On 03/20/2012 12:03 PM, Julian Gonggrijp wrote:
>> <snip>
>>> Basic usage of git is different from basic usage of svn in some
>>> crucial aspects, but similar enough for anyone to be able to adjust
>>> even if you don't like it. It can definitely be learnt within a day.
>>> Why don't you just give it a try? It never hurts to learn something
>>> new.
>>
>> *SIGH* you keep assuming that i never tried git. My last adventure
>> with trying to use git was around half a year ago. I still have
>> nightmares from that.
>>
>
> Could you please give some example for that?
> Git is so easy to learn and use, that is is possible that it could be
> your "incompetence" which created your nightmares. "Incompetence"
> could have many meanings, good and bad ones. But, as an outsider who
> follows discussions on the Boost mailing list, what I can see in
> this thread is that people arguing in favour of Git mostly use
> concrete arguments, supported by apparently quite some work done
> regarding the Boost-Git connection, while people arguing against it
> do not seem to present arguments, but mostly only negative emotions.
> Like the statement above --- where is some evidence?

Well the evidence is hard ... but let me try to replay my experience. I 
am sure, the next guy will step up and tell me that i did it totally 
wrong (actually happened when i tried to collaborate on said project 
using git).

So, the journey starts about a year ago or so. I decided i need to check 
out this new project i heard about. I was (actually still am) very 
determined to contribute to that project, so i cloned the repository, 
browsed the code etc. eventually i decided to fork this project cause i 
wanted to get some hacking done. That is what i did. Then life happened 
and i had to postpone the work on the project.
A few months later, I got a new assignment to contribute a module for 
that project. Remember, i still got that (public) fork lying around.
So i tried to get it up to date. First bummer. I don't remember which 
commands i tried in which order, but merge didn't really work, and i 
messed up during rebase. the result was, that i spent an entire day 
trying to figure out how to get this outdated fork uptodate to start 
hacking again. Also, since trying to learn this new git tool and its 
cool branches and stuff, i had of course multiple local branches lying 
around, never really figured how to properly maintain that (origin 
branch, master fork branch, origin feature branch1, etc. ...) and 
constantly pushed to the wrong branches and/or repos (luckily, I didn't 
have any write rights to the repository i forked from). And not to 
forget that i wanted to try some feature X from branch Y, but needed to 
combine that with my feature Z on branch U.
Essentially, whenever I tried to publicly show my progress to someone, I 
ended up totally confused, and in a complete local litter box of 
branches, where half of them didn't really do what they were supposed to 
(like remote tracking).
I needed to search the internets for how to accomplish task X that 
wasn't a simple "git add" or "git commit". Asking people after i didn't 
know any further lead to the answer that i shouldn't have executed 
command X in the first place. D'oh, that was how i read it on the 
internets ...
I am sorry, this isn't a really detailed usage story, missing all the 
commands etc. that is why I wasn't clearer in the first place. To be 
perfectly honest, i even forgot most of the git usage i learned back 
then. I hope you can still relate a little to what I am talking about.

But yeah ... this is the memory that makes me arguing against git. Also, 
it is the reason why i argue against all those "advantages" people see 
over using git. I clearly fail to see them cause i miserably failed in 
actually trying to use them.

My $0.02 ...

P.S.: In this case, the usage of git actually prevented me to make the 
contribution i wanted to do. Nevertheless I was able to contribute a 
tiny bit. But well ...