Re: git on Cygwin: Not a valid object name HEAD

[Steffen Prohaska <prohaska@zib.de>]

On Aug 10, 2007, at 8:07 AM, Torgil Svensson wrote:

> On 8/9/07, Steffen Prohaska <prohaska@zib.de> wrote:
>
>> The next would be a good integration with
>> useful tools on Windows, for example git-mergetool should launch
>> Windows three-way merge tools.
>
> Do you mean tools included in Windows or tools using the Windows API?

I think both. I'm currently conducting a survey what the Windows
users I'm working with are using. Up to now I have no idea what these
tools do. Note, I'm not working on Windows. But I would like to see
git starting the tools that users prefer to use.

Git would just feel more like a useful Windows tool if it interacted
with other useful Windows tools.

Here is what I have on my list (not yet prioritized):

- WinMerge (http://winmerge.org/)

- Visual Comparer (http://www.nikeware.com/vc-features.htm)

- Araxis Merge, http://www.araxis.com/merge/ (expensive!)

- Beyond Compare, http://www.scootersoftware.com/file-comparison.php  
(will support 3-way  with upcoming version 3; reasonable price)

- KDiff3, http://kdiff3.sourceforge.net/ (comes with Windows- 
installer from SF)

- ECMerge, http://www.elliecomputing.com/Products/merge_overview.asp  
(OSS developer can get a "Pro" license for free upon request)

A complete list at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_file_comparison_tools


>
>> My goal would be to type 'make windist' in the official repo and
>> get a very basic installer (maybe just a zip archive) that contains
>> everything needed to run git on Windows. Unpacking this self- 
>> contained
>> installer on a freshly installed Windows should get you going. There
>> should be no need to install Cygwin or something else.
>>
>> Is this realistic?
>> What is needed to get there?
>> What would be an estimated timeframe to achieve this goal?
>>
>> Will all this run on Windows XP 64 bit and Windows Vista 64 bit?
>
> How fast can you type?

I don't see your point. The question is if git runs flawlessly
on 64 bit systems, which we use for development. I have no experience
with mingw. Maybe there are some issues with 64 bit Windows, maybe
not. But its a reasonable question?


> Why does it have to be the _official_ repo? Git have submodule
> support, so you could do a repo called
> "my_excellent_git_environment_for_windows.git" and have the official
> repo as submodule (msysgit is done this way).

The official repo would indicate a real commitment to me that
Windows support if officially maintained.

I agree that there may be more tools group around core git. But
core git itself should be the master from the official repo.
This seems to be a reasonable goal to me. At least that is what
we do. The head must compile on all supported platforms
out-of-the-box.


> You could even start with cloning the TortoiseSVN repo using git. Or
> maybe even better, since KDE4 will compile on Windows [take on wood],
> do it as a kioslave (or whatever mechanism) to have an environment
> that works in both Windows and Linux and most OtherOs:es. Aiming for
> environments that works on several OSes is a good thing for future
> migrations.

I work for years now on cross platform code. I never needed a whole
environment. I need Qt and the native development environment, like
Visual Studio, gcc, Xcode. I don't need KDE on Windows, I don't need
KDE on Mac. Everything's there already.

	Steffen