Subject: Re: git and bzr

From: Nicholas Allen <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2006 13:36:23 +0100

I also have a basic question about git regarding its content tracking 
and merging.

Does this mean if I have, for example, a large C++ file with a bunch of 
methods in it and I move one of the methods from the bottom of the file 
to the top and in another branch someone makes a change to that method 
that when I merge their changes git will merge their changes into the 
method at the top of the file where I have moved it?

If so that would be really quite impressive!

Cheers,

Nick

Joseph Wakeling wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> Following the very interesting debate about the differences between bzr
> and git, I thought it was about time I tried to learn properly about git
> and how to use it.  I've been using bzr for a good while now, although
> since I'm not a serious developer I only use it for simple purposes,
> keeping track of code I write on my own for academic projects.
>
> So, a few questions about differences I don't understand...
>
> First off a really dumb one: how do I identify myself to git, i.e. give
> it a name and email address?  Currently it uses my system identity,
> My Name <username@computer.(none)>.  I haven't found any equivalent of
> the bzr whoami command.
>
> Now to more serious business.  One of the main operational differences I
> see as a new user is that bzr defaults to setting up branches in
> different locations, whereas git by default creates a repository where
> branches are different versions of the directory contents and switching
> branches *changes* the directory contents.  bzr branch seems to be
> closer to git-clone than git-branch (N.B. I have never used bzr repos so
> might not be making a fair comparison).
>
> With this in mind, is there any significance to the "master" branch (is
> it intended e.g. to indicate a git repository's "stable" version
> according to the owner?), or is this just a convenient default name?
> Could I delete or rename it?  Using bzr I would normally give the
> central branch(*) the name of the project.
>
> (* Central or main on my own system.  Not intended to be central in the
> sense of a CVS-style version control setup:-)
>
> Any other useful comments that can be made to a bzr user about working
> with this difference, positive or negative aspects of it?
>
> Next question ... one of the reasons I started seriously thinking about
> git was that in the VCS comparison discussion, it was noted that git is
> a lot more flexible than bzr in terms of how it can track data (e.g. the
> git pickaxe command, although I understand that's not in the released
> version [1.4.4.1] yet?).  A frustration with bzr is that pulling or
> merging patches from another branch or repo requires them to share the
> same HEAD.  Is this a requirement in git or can I say, "Hey, I like that
> particular function in project XXX, I'm going to pull that individual
> bit of code and its development history into project YYY"?
>
> Last off (for now, I'm sure I'll think of more): is there any easy (or
> difficult) way to effectively import version history from a bzr
> repository, and vice versa?
>
> Thanks in advance for any comments,
>
>     -- Joe
>
>
>