FOSSPicks
Git browser
tig
Many of us are spending more and more of our time with the git
command. It's true that git
is primarily useful for programmers, as it allows them to work as part of team in which everyone commits to the same codebase, where releases and bugs are tracked and coordinated. But it's also useful in lots of other cases. There are tools that use git
to version control your /etc/
configuration directory, for example, or serve as your own secret password repository to websites using a tool like pass
. git
is commonly used to build documentation, websites, and databases. If you need snapshots of something that's constantly changing and written in text, there's a good chance git
could be a solution.
But the main problem with git
is its complexity, and that's not just because it was built for programmers. It was initially built by Linus Torvalds, and as we know, he doesn't suffer fools gladly, nor nicefy a tool simply to appease those who don't understand its functionality. This approach often makes git
difficult to understand, especially outside of programmer's circles and especially outside of its core feature set of pushing and pulling from a repository. Anything that can make this easier is going to be a huge help for us non-git
masters, and that's exactly what tig
does. It's a terminal-based UI to various different git
views, such as the recent commits, diffs, the log, and the blame list, which is a great way to see who wrote each line of a file. It does all of this without you needing to remember any weird arguments or command structures – just press h to see the few keyboard shortcuts it does use and begin exploring your favorite projects and repositories.
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