[oi-dev] Git as a version control system for new OI projects

[Garrett D'Amore]

On Wed, 2011-06-22 at 15:12 -0400, Magnus wrote:
> On 6/22/11 3:04 PM, Jesus Cea wrote:
> > Do you have hard data to support your comment that GIT is more used that
> > HG?. Moreover, in our arena? (OS development, distro creation).
> I think it is a very very safe assumption.
> 
> I personally know of at least 20,000 people who use git in their day 
> jobs, and that's just at one company.

Sun/Oracle uses hg.  So there are thousands of people there.  Git is
more widely used because it is used for Linux.  At the end of the day,
either tool will work well for us unless you want to do *lots* of
branching.  (And even that is easily done with an hg extension.)

I really view the hg vs. git debate as one of personal preference, like
csh vs sh or emacs vs vi.  People get passionate about one or the other,
but at the end of the day both tools can do the job.  Its a religious
war.

> 
> I never even heard of mercurial before looking into this project. It's 
> definitely much more of a niche within a niche.
> 
> Go to the book store and tell me how many books you can find on each 
> subject.
> 
> Add to that pretty much anyone doing Linux kernel development, and 
> everyone on github. It's also the default for new projects in Apple's 
> Xcode, IIRC, so it's probably used quite heavily in the iOS and OS X 
> communities.

git has more widespread adoption. That doesn't mean that hg is not
widely used, or can do the job.  It can, and does.

> 
> Unless there is a sizable army of mercurial users that have sequestered 
> themselves from society (and who don't buy books)....

One could argue that hg is so much more usable that a large body of
printed material is not necessary.  git is far less approachable to a
new user than hg.

None of this is meant to say we shouldn't use git -- it is meant to
point out that most of the debate is religious in nature.  If the git
fans would actually realize this, the debate would settle itself
largely.

	- Garrett