Re: VC mode and git

[Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>]

> Date: Fri, 03 Apr 2015 07:04:54 -0400
> From: Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>
> CC: eliz@gnu.org, sorganov@gmail.com, emacs-devel@gnu.org
> 
> If there is no simple way to explain what that operation does, that means
> Git is hard to understand.  That is a grave flaw in Git.

IME, Git _is_ hard to understand, but only if you want to dig deeper
than necessary under the hood.  In this case, I don't think that it's
hard to understand what committing does, because it basically does
what the same operation does in any other VCS -- unless you are
talking about implementation details, like how exact is the commit
data represented on disk etc.

This is not so easy with operations that have no direct equivalents in
other VCSes, or have a significantly different semantics in Git.  The
main problem IME is that most documentation out there describes those
operations inadequately, when seen from the POV of someone who has
deep roots in other VCSes and no need/desire to learn the
implementation details.  So in those cases you have no other way but
make up your own mind and form your own mental model of those
operations, based on what you read and process, and your own
experience.

> If Git requires programmers to adopt a different and complex way of thinking
> in order to use it, that is a grave flaw in Git.

IME, it does require that, but only for workflows that are radically
different from what you are used to.  Workflows that you are used to
don't require a change in your mindset, only to memorize a couple of
new commands and perhaps also customize Git a bit, to conceal some
unnecessary complications and make Git a bit more like the other
VCSes.

> I wish Bzr had had continued support so that we could have stayed with
> it.

Agreed.