So You Think You Know Git - FOSDEM 2024

Summary: In this technical talk at Fosdem, Scott Chacon, co-founder of GitHub, delivers an informative yet light-hearted presentation on Git, sharing insights into various aspects of Git that users, from novices to veterans, may not be familiar with. He begins by explaining the overabundance of commands in Git, some of which are seldom used. Chacon provides a comprehensive overview of lesser-known Git commands, configuration options, and new features that have been added over recent years. He delves into the intricacies of Git blames and logs, how to configure Git for a smoother workflow, and tips for handling large repositories, including features that Microsoft has contributed to Git to handle the Windows codebase efficiently. Additionally, he touches upon new concepts in GitButler, his current project, and ends the talk with brief mentions of GitHub-specific functionalities and an invitation for post-talk socializing.

Key Points:

• 0:41 Chacon expresses the pressure of speaking to a full house at Fosdem and introduces himself as a co-founder of GitHub, the author of the book "Pro Git", and the creator of a Git client called GitButler.
• 2:17 The focus of the talk is primarily on Git, exploring common and underutilized commands, new features, and information regarding large repositories.
• 2:20 The audience is engaged, with Chacon asking about their use of Git on the command line and their familiarity with Git commands.
• 2:48 There are around 145 Git commands, but many of them are situational or serve more for scripting and backend operations.
• 3:47 Chacon clarifies that the talk won't delve into plumbing commands and will be more of a refresher on Git, covering new developments that even long-time Git users might be unaware of.
• 4:09 Many users may not have kept up with new changes introduced to Git, despite continuous development averaging nine commits a day.
• 5:15 The agenda includes helpful config tips, old commands worth revisiting, newly introduced features, handling large repositories, and some GitHub-specific tools.
• 9:39 Some useful but less known Git configurations are shared, particularly including conditional includes for different work directories.
• 10:57 Git blame and Git log, including options to ignore whitespace and detect code movement, are explained with examples.
• 14:06 The usefulness of Git reflog for recovering from possibly disruptive actions like Git reset is highlighted.
• 15:01 A demonstration of how to use the word-specific differences with Git word diff and recording conflict resolution for reuse in the future with 'rerere' are provided.
• 16:23 Chacon introduces new functionalities in Git that have emerged in recent years, such as options for organizing Git branch outputs and a new command that formats output into columns.
• 17:52 The utility of 'force with lease' as a safer alternative to force pushing is discussed.
• 19:53 Chacon clarifies that as of recent Git versions, you can now use SSH to sign commits, and verified commits show up as such on platforms like GitHub.
• 22:17 The talk proceeds with features designed for large repositories, such as Git maintenance tasks that optimize performance in the background.
• 25:17 Microsoft's contributions to Git for large repository management are explored, with specific tooling and strategies for handling the massive Windows codebase.
• 33:31 GitHub-specific features are mentioned, like allowed merge types and auto-merge functionality, including pull request management that optimizes for different workflows.
• 36:36 An introduction to GitButler's virtual branches is given, which allows multiple branches to be worked on simultaneously.
• 37:00 Concluding remarks prompt a Q&A session, where Chacon talks about the future direction of Git development and the utility of integrating more user-friendly features like GitButler's innovations into Git.
• 41:02 Speaking on the future of Git, the speaker stresses the importance of developing features like working on multiple branches simultaneously and implementing automatic save features similar to Google Docs.
• 45:04 The speaker shares his personal preference of using command line and GUI tools for Git tasks, such as interactive adding and context switching.