Four graphic interfaces for Git

Git GUIs

Article from Issue 223/2019
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Complex Git projects sometimes require a better view of the dependencies and branches. Several tools offer GUI options for Git. We take a look at gitk, gitg, git-gui, and GitAhead.

Graphical User interfaces (GUIs) for the Git version control system let users visualize branches and different version levels. Developers thus have a better overview of their projects' status. In addition, GUIs make Git easier to use, because programmers do not need to remember any of the cryptic Git commands.

Thanks to the great popularity of Git, numerous GUIs are now vying for the attention of users, including some commercial offerings. Many users are not aware that Git already has two GUIs, gitk [1] and git-gui [2]. Although both are part of Git's official scope of supply, many distributions outsource them into separate packages. In Ubuntu 18.10, users have to install the git-gui or gitk packages. The code for the two GUIs has also been adopted by external projects. The Git developers always add the latest stable version to their branches.

The following comparison with the free competitors GitAhead [3] and gitg [4] is intended to reveal how the two GUIs perform compared to the rest of the field.

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