shared gitconfig

[Vladimir Panteleev]

On Sunday, 6 January 2013 at 22:45:27 UTC, Andrei Alexandrescu 
wrote:
> I do now after having read about it at the end of several 
> google searches.

I found the git documentation to be an excellent resource once 
you're familiar with the basic concept of how git works. For 
that, I found this quite insightful: 
http://eagain.net/articles/git-for-computer-scientists/

> I agree it is important to be fluent with git. I'm an okay user 
> but currently unfit for an admin. Probably Walter is at a 
> similar stage. I'm doing my best to improve my knowledge in the 
> limited time I have, and part of it is discussing git here. So 
> I hope you'll understand why I find it contradictory to be 
> reprimanded for doing so with the reproach that I should be 
> doing exactly what I'm doing.

Sorry, your post came across to me as you advocating that 
everyone used a git command without having understood its exact 
function.

> Yes, that was exactly my intention.

But, why? If both histories contained conflicting changes, Git 
will throw only some away. In some cases, this might result in a 
broken codebase (the result might even compile, but git might've 
thrown away some initialization code (only), and you may not find 
out until it's too late).

> I get these tidbits of commands - git idioms - all the time, 
> and I forget them because I don't use them frequently. I don't 
> see why it's a crime to want to define some macros for such 
> idioms instead of essentially putting that in a text file that 
> I'd be perusing now and then.

I just don't think it's that simple. The outcome of any command 
can be affected by a number of factors, such as:
- Do you have any unstaged changes? Do you want to keep or 
discard them?
- Do you have any staged but uncommitted changes? (ditto)
- Are there any untracked files that may conflict with the 
operation? (ditto)
- Are there any local-only commits? (ditto)
- Which branch are you on?
- Does the branch track a remote-tracking branch? Is it tracking 
the intended one?
- How is the behavior of the commands set up in the user's 
.gitconfig?

So, the question is not as much "How do I get X done?", as it is 
"How do I get to X from Y?"

For example, the commands I posted will only work correctly if 
the current checked-out branch (i.e., HEAD) is "master", 
otherwise it'll move some other branch to match the remote's 
master. A hard reset throws away local changes - someone running 
such a macro found in a repository's .gitconfig may result in 
accidental loss of work.

FWIW, I work with git daily, and haven't found the need to set up 
macros such as you describe. I use a "gg" alias to launch git gui 
for interactive staging and reviewing, and the "git pullrequest" 
script I posted here earlier.

> That's pretty much what I wanted but was unable to find easily 
> by searching the net.

You could always ask on IRC ;)