
GitHub for Mac - kneath
https://github.com/blog/878-announcing-github-for-mac
======
dchest
I hate all the visual clutter and unjustified complexity the new stylish iOS-
like interfaces bring. Those interfaces are only good for Twitter and friends
(and for screenshots).

Some feedback:

* Get rid of huge spacing everywhere (for example here: [http://github-images.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/2011/mac-screensh...](http://github-images.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/2011/mac-screenshots/changes-full.png))

* Make animations go faster.

* History should have preview pane with diffs (see Mail) instead of making me click on commits.

* There are windows on Macs. You can use them instead of [edit: or in addition to] making me navigate inside a single window.

* Loading indicators are annoying. Move them to bottom (there it won't distract me, but I'll know that it's still loading).

Oh, and congrats on release.

~~~
bradleyland
Have you tried GitX? What you described seems a bit more like GitX than what
GitHub is trying to do here.

When I first fired this up, I made a tarball of one of the repos I'm currently
working in (it has uncommitted changes) and started clicking around. I'd do
something in the GitHub app, then go back to my bash prompt to see what
happened. I was pretty confused when I switched branches and all my changes
were gone. Then I went back and read the blog post. It auto-stashes when you
switch branches. I also wondered what the heck the "Synchronize" button does,
so once again, I referred to the blog post. It performs what they call a
"smarter version of pull --rebase && push that reduces merge commits but
doesn't rewrite your merges". Oh, really?

At that point I realized that GitHub has done the hard thing. They haven't re-
created the git CLI tool in a GUI, they've created something different.
They've created a tool that makes Git more accessible. Little things like
auto-stashing when you switch branches will confuse git veterans, but it will
make Git much easier to grok for newcomers because of the assumptions it makes
about your git workflow.

I see great things in this app's future. It's probably not for everyone. If
you're a proficient git cli user, and you like it that way, then you're
probably best off sticking with what you've got. Maybe explore some of the
more traditional Git GUI clients like GitK or GitX, but keep in mind, that's
not what this is.

~~~
dchest
Nothing in your reply addresses my points, so I'm not sure what to answer.
Yes, I tried GitX, and I'm not looking for (or using) Git GUI tools. This
doesn't make GitHub for Mac less visually cluttered.

I'm mostly discussing GUI trends (as a Mac developer who cares about this
stuff), using GitHub as an example (which, as you say, gets job done great,
but I say that it can be improved).

~~~
pointlessjon
You argue that spacing produces clutter, but I completely disagree. Clutter is
shoving tons of information together without spacing.

~~~
dchest
_You argue that spacing produces clutter_

"You argue"?

Clutter means (let me open the dictionary) "a collection of things lying about
in an untidy mass".

I never said only spacing produces clutter. Either I'm not explaining myself
clearly or you read something that was not in my comment (this is called a
strawman, right?)

~~~
pointlessjon
I never said you are completely, objectively wrong. I just disagreed with a
point.. On that note, I see nothing untidy.

No hostility meant by "you argue". You provided a critique, an argument. I'd
open the dictionary... ;)

~~~
dchest
You disagreed with the point which I never made ("spacing produces clutter"),
putting words into my mouth ("you argue").

~~~
bonch
You mentioned visual clutter, and then your first bullet point was about too
much spacing. Clutter--according to the OS X dictionary you cited earlier--
refers to a jumble or tangle of items, implying that they are close together.
That's the discrepancy he was referring to.

His posts were completely non-hostile, so aren't you overreacting?

------
macrael
It seems clear that GitHub's goal is to make git useable. I'm super excited
about everything they can do in that direction. Git's underlying model is
fantastic, but it's UI is lacking. Bravo GitHub.

~~~
efnx
Sorry - I deleted my replies as I really don't want to argue about UIs. That
was not my intention. I must remember for the future that text without tone
often does not convey one's intention. This program is great, thank you
GitHub.

------
eli
That's cool and all, but a Windows client would make a lot more business
sense. There are already a couple of nice git clients for Mac. There aren't
for Windows.

And I assume github is targeting SMB with its paid offerings. Unless you're a
design shop or a hip startup, odds are you're not running OS X. Based on my
unscientific data, most companies have the devs working on Windows (or
occasionally Linux).

~~~
MatthewPhillips
> Unless you're a design shop or a hip startup

They are the latter. Welcome to the San Francisco bubble, where you think
everyone uses iPhones and Macs, because in your world everyone does. It's the
same reason Twitter has a Mac app but not a Windows app. They build these
things for themselves (and arguably they should).

~~~
pclark
You're not describing a bubble, "making something _I_ want" isn't some
outlandish absurd thing for developers and designers do. Bubble is rapidly
outpacing pivot for most misused word.

~~~
5l
He meant bubble as in 'echo-chamber', and in that sense of the word it isn't
overused.

It's not outlandish or absurd to design something you might want, but it is a
bit silly to ignore a larger market with the same underlying need.

~~~
dazonic
They're not ignoring a larger market, they're ignoring a smaller one:

> Beyond that, one-third of our traffic uses Macs. It's not a small market for
> us.

~~~
5l
I feel like I must be missing something here; how is the 2/3rds that _don't_
use Mac OS the _smaller_ market?

And as others have pointed out, the market doesn't just consist of GitHub
users, or even Git users. In this case, it's developers who use an RCS and
need a good desktop application to go with it.

In any case the point may be moot; judging by the rest of the comment you
quoted they're not ignoring other platforms at all but rather just using Mac
OS as a first step, which I can understand.

------
kevinherron
What ever happened to the Kickstarter project to create a native GitHub app?

Is this it? Is this something else? Is that project now doomed?

[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sferik/hubcap-a-
github-c...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sferik/hubcap-a-github-
client-for-mac-os-x)

~~~
martey
sferik, the developer of that project, has talked a bit about his thoughts on
Twitter:

<https://twitter.com/#!/sferik/status/83585135836016640>

<https://twitter.com/#!/sferik/status/83588359066353664>

<https://twitter.com/#!/sferik/status/83600376061894656>

<https://twitter.com/#!/sferik/status/83616031309967360>

------
senko
How much of the client is GitHub specific, and how much is plain 'ol Git? Does
it make sense to use it w/o using GitHub?

Couldn't find that info in either the announcement post, GitHub for Mac page,
or the 118 comments so far here, and don't own a Mac so can't try it for
myself (still would like to know whether to recommend to other people or not,
though).

~~~
nolanw
You can certainly use the client for plain ol' Git. The GitHub-specific stuff
is a "Push to GitHub" button on repositories that aren't already on GitHub,
and a list of your GitHub repositories.

It's more than useful without ever using GitHub the web service/site.

------
beaumartinez
I wonder why they've released a client for OS X and not another OS―if
anything, Windows is pretty lacking in git love.

Whose is its target audience and the desired function? New users, to reel them
in with a shiny UI? Or established users who don't use it much, to make the
experience simpler? (And if it's established users who use it much―isn't the
command-line faster for them?)

If they want more users to use GitHub, surely a GitHub for Windows makes more
sense (unless this is an employee's side-project gone primetime).

~~~
sunchild
Perhaps because it's easier to develop something like this for OS X?

~~~
sunchild
Apparently not! <http://warpspire.com/posts/designing-github-mac/>

------
tjogin
The Github guys just never cease to impress me. They've made development so
much more enjoyable. And at any given time, you can expect them to not only do
the right thing, but to do better than that. Like, releasing a great Git app
for free, hoping to get more people to use Git, and thereby Github, and
thereby becoming paying customers. A perfectly reasonable plan, but most
companies don't have that foresight and patience. My hat is off to you, you
rock.

------
joshuacc
This looks awesome. I really hope that their next move is to create a Windows
version, as I haven't yet found a Windows Git GUI that I like.

~~~
iaskwhy
Two days ago I gave SmartGit a try and don't really see a reason to look back:
<http://www.syntevo.com/smartgit/>

~~~
joshuacc
Thanks for the tip. I will check it out.

~~~
smhinsey
Git Extensions is not bad either, although I'm not using the VS addins. The
GUI is nice for visualizing histories and things like that.

~~~
joshuacc
Thanks for this. Git Extensions is the most promising of the GUIs I've looked
at thus far.

------
tzury
Have you noticed this comment?

[https://github.com/blog/878-announcing-github-for-
mac#commen...](https://github.com/blog/878-announcing-github-for-
mac#comment-12541)

    
    
        josscrowcroft commented about 16 hours ago 
        
        Holy crap! Cool!
    
        All that time i spent learning Git from the command-line, WASTED.
    

There is no doubt, a new generation of Hacker is emerging, where yourself the
command-line-fu is a waste of time.

~~~
gizzlon
It's not the command line that makes git daunting, it's everything you have to
know about git to use it effectively.

I don't believe a GUI can remove that without making git lot less powerful.

------
clutchski
It's interesting to see such a killer web company start investing in native
apps.

~~~
puredemo
Shows a lot of versatility. I'm impressed.

------
csmajorfive
This app is great. I've been waiting for something like this.

I hope they iterate on the staging/commit UI because, as is, I'm still going
to use GitX to preview and selectively stage things. Some suggestions:

* Get rid of expand/collapse and checkmark pattern. Let me see two lists of files -- changed and staged. If I click on one, show the changes.

* Staging by chunk & line.

* Squashing with the previous commit.

~~~
sjs
And if staging by line never failed that would be stellar ;)

------
watty
Mac: Tower, GitX, GitBox, GitHub, Sprout, Gitti, SourceTree ...

Windows: TortoiseGit?

~~~
uses
Git Extensions is pretty nice for Windows.
<http://code.google.com/p/gitextensions/>

~~~
danssig
"nice" is going to far but it's completely workable. Better to use that than
SVN in any case.

------
ashleyw
First time an application has been unsupported on my Core Duo (32bit) Macbook
Pro. Is there a reason for it, does the application really require a 64bit OS,
or did the GitHub guys just forget about us early Intel Mac owners?

~~~
joshaber
It was intentional. There are differences between the 32- and 64-bit ABIs that
make life easier for us to go 64-bit only.

~~~
ashleyw
Fair enough, I'd probably do the same if I wasn't a CoreDuo owner myself,
especially since Lion's dropping support too.

------
tptacek
Does this work on Github:FI?

(Related question: does the API work on Github:FI? It doesn't seem to, but I
may be dumb.)

~~~
holman
We're prepping for a major FI release- expect full GitHub for Mac support at
that time. (And yes, FI ships with the full API as well.)

~~~
tptacek
Firing off support request. Looking forward to new FI. FI has been f'ing great
for us.

------
dabeeeenster
It works with central repos other than github too - it picked up assembla
repos I had and pushes to them no problem.

Great stuff.

------
frr149
Great news, except… it's "for Mac", not for iOS, folks. There's plenty of
space on my MBP 17'' screen, so don't treat it as if it was an iPhone.

------
js4all
What a great "out of the box" experience. Unpacked it, entered my github login
data and synced my repos. No hassling with ssh keys, no setup, no other
questions asked.

This is great for beginners and pros. Thanks.

------
jonursenbach
Will be interesting to see if they integrate issues and wiki into this. For a
first release though, I'm impressed.

Edit: Also would love to see this integrated with notifications so I can get
Growl popups.

~~~
davepeck
Not that this contributes much to the conversation but: YES on both counts.

I use GitHub's issue tracker in volume both for some fairly large projects
(getcloak.com, walkscore.com, and wherebe.us) I've found that the Issues web
interface leaves a lot to be desired. It's a fine v1 [v2 technically], but
somewhat painful in practice once you have more than a handful of issues. The
280 North issues app was interesting but hasn't kept up with the latest GitHub
features.

As for Growl: it would be great to have it built in. In the interim, there's
this: <https://github.com/miyagawa/github-growler/downloads>

------
jamiequint
Still extremely buggy, I was only able to load one of my repos, others failed
with error messages like this: <http://bit.ly/iJzNmp> and even the successful
ones came up with errors after loading.

~~~
brown9-2
There is really no need to use a URL shortener when posting links here. The HN
software will abbreviate the link text on it's own if it is too long. It's a
little annoying to have to guess where a link is going to forward to.

~~~
jamiequint
GrabBox automatically shortens my screenshot links. Click if you dare. IMHO
they should have used bitly pro and their own shortener for marketing the
thing.

------
bluehex
Downloaded and played with the App a bit.

While it's beautiful and a great first version, I don't think it really
provides anything that GitX doesn't already do better. I can see how this tool
might be valuable for someone who's intimidated by git, because it's hiding a
lot of what's going on. But in it's current state I wouldn't use this for more
than training wheels. If / when they add pull request support and other Github
specific features I might come around.

------
tednaleid
How does this compare to Tower? It's not obvious from the website, but I'm
guessing is less fully featured. Anyone with experience with both who can
comment?

~~~
abahgat
I used Tower for a while, and I didn't have the chance to test Git for Mac yet
(will do later today when I'll be using my Mac).

One thing that Tower can do quite well is dealing with multiple remote
repositories (e.g. github + heroku). If GitHub for Mac does that as well, I
believe I'm going to switch to that.

~~~
hamedh
it only works on github

~~~
technoweenie
Correction: It only works with a single 'origin' remote. It should work fine
with any smart http git host. Someone in this thread mentioned it working just
fine with Assembla.

~~~
mattyb
And here are the docs for Git hosts who haven't yet implemented smart http:

<http://progit.org/2010/03/04/smart-http.html>

------
tobylane
If you're interested, here are the decent (looking, not used) alternatives -
Brother's Gitx fork <http://brotherbard.com/blog/2010/03/experimental-gitx-
fork/> Gitbox <http://gitboxapp.com/> and Gitx <http://gitx.frim.nl/>

------
StrawberryFrog
I don't get it.

If I made a windows desktop client for a popular website, would anyone at all
even care?

Github (the website ) is great, it works well.

The thinking that a website is a poor substitute for a native app is
increasingly outdated. Github is an example of this, it does a lot on the web.

What extra does this app bring to the table? What does it make possible or
easier that I can't do on the website or in TortoiseGit?

~~~
fanf2
It's an offline GUI for local git repositories.

~~~
StrawberryFrog
So, just like Tortoisegit?

I'm still not getting the Unique Selling Point. Or is this just a case of the
intersection of Github fanboys and Mac fanboys? Once both of those factors are
removed, I'm not seeing the magic.

------
LoonyPandora
It's a good first attempt, but it's not quite there yet and won't replace
gitbox in my workflow.

The big problem is that it will only work with the origin remote [1]. This
means no pulling in upstream changes, then pushing it to your fork - doing
this on multiple branches with the command line is a pain, and something a GUI
would be great for.

The interface feels a little half baked too, e.g why the multiple overlapping
sidebars - one blue, one black, why not just merge them?

[1]<http://mac.github.com/help>

------
barredo
This is a huge deal. The app looks amazing. I used Tower for a bit but didn't
cut it for me. I was planning to ditch Github for Codebase tonight but I'll
reconsider after this

~~~
rcfox
Why is it a huge deal? It's just a desktop version of their web app. Or am I
missing something?

~~~
jwr
That's kind of like saying that a BMW M5 is just a version of a Ford Fiesta.
Both will get you there, but the comfort and enjoyment will be somewhat
different.

~~~
invisiblefunnel
Ford Fiesta? That might be selling the web app a bit short.

~~~
jwr
You're right. I'm not that good at metaphors and that one doesn't do the web
app justice. My point was that while the two solutions are more or less
functionally equivalent, they do differ significantly in ease-of-use and
overall comfort.

I'm very, very happy that GitHub is doing this — but I also have high
expectations and I do expect the app to improve significantly.

------
neovive
Looks great! One more reason for developers to move over to Git and a great
way to get more people on GitHub.

On another note, I wonder if this is another example of how native
applications are gaining momentum on the desktop as a carry-over from the
mobile apps industry. Perhaps, more companies will begin asking the question
"if native apps beat web apps on mobile devices, why not on the desktop as
well?"

------
glhaynes
Looks nice. For someone who has some decent familiarity with version control
but none with git specifically: does anybody have any opinion on whether this
would be a good way to pick up git for use with Xcode? Version control has
always struck me as lending itself well to visual tools so I'm always kind of
surprised how poor they usually tend to be.

~~~
jbrennan
Though Xcode 4 does support git, I've stuck with using git from the command
line mostly, as I'd had some issues with it in Xcode 4 (betas, mind you). My
guess is it's a lot more stable now.

Having said that, I still use it from the command line just fine. And you're
right, it's often the case where a version control tool like git requires
something more visual (especially when dealing with out-of-sync branch
merging). For that I've typically used GitX, but GitHub for Mac so far looks
like a really nice alternative.

------
DrCatbox
Is there something like this for GNU/Linux ?

------
gmac
This looks awesome, but is it too soon for a feature request? I'd love a side-
by-side diff view, FileMerge style.

~~~
glenngillen
while we're at the feature requests, multiple accounts? I've got a
"business-y" type one and a personal one

~~~
philfreo
Why have multiple accounts? The idea is that you have Organizations for
business stuff, and you just switch "contexts" between personal and
organizations.

------
trangatrang
This is not going to save anyone any time over the cli, only make it easier
for people who are scared of it. When I'm writing, I hate going to the mouse
when I don't have to. Give me a GUI where I can still use my keyboard and I'd
pay a hundred bux for that shit.

------
sebkomianos
I haven't used GitHub extensively but from what I was understanding the whole
control via terminal was a quite educational thing on its own.

I am planning to start using it though so I wanted to ask, should I stick to
the terminal or am I making a big deal out of nothing?

------
jessep
It stalled after I entered my credentials. It's just been sitting there for 10
minutes.

~~~
asifjamil
not sure if its related, but i keep getting an authentication error; can't
seem to figure out what's going on

<http://cl.ly/7roP>

------
sant0sk1
Awesome! Gorgeous! Thanks!

Now, when will we be able to stage parts of files like we can with GitX? ;)

------
jarin
It looks really nice, but I don't see myself switching from command-line Git
(except for maybe when viewing logs and/or diffs). This will definitely be
awesome for working with designers though.

------
peterbraden
It seems there's no way to log out. This is a fairly major omission.

~~~
spicyj
Simply delete your username/email and password from the app preferences
window.

~~~
peterbraden
that doesn't log you out - all the data is still visible in the app.

------
kmfrk
Free, too. GitHub don't mess around.

Any plans for putting it in the Mac App Store?

~~~
joshaber
Yes. But the update experience for Mac App Store apps is so bad right now that
it's a bit discouraging.

~~~
gt384u
What about the update experience do you find so bad/discouraging?

~~~
joshaber
It takes days/weeks for Apple to approve updates and then users have to
consciously open the Mac App Store app and download them.

------
speg
Hot damn! This is a sweet app. I've been trying to get into github but I do
not like the command line. This is a sweet app and should get many n00bs like
me into github.

------
arturadib
It's crashing quite a bit with me - all I do is to fire it up via
/usr/local/bin/github while inside a repo. It displays the changes, but more
often than not it crashes...

------
stephen_g
Looks pretty good. Why doesn't it respect .gitignore files though? I opened a
C++ project and it wanted to commit about thirty object files, and things like
that...

------
sunchild
I've been using this app for a few hours now, and I have no idea how people
can complain about it. It's freakin' amazing! I love it. Thank you!

------
chrismealy
If you click "published" on your branch it will delete it!

Watch out!

~~~
spicycode
Just click it again and it will re-publish it.

~~~
chrismealy
Not when you don't have the branch checked out.

------
newman314
How does this compare with Git Tower?

~~~
veidr
Well, for one thing, they both have very pretty UIs that are severely
dysfunctional in exactly the same way: you can only have one window open at a
time, which means you can't use the app to look at two repos at the same time.

For seriously using git for development, I find that pretty nuts.

Every time I want to browse a different repository, I have to destroy all the
work I did opening the window for the current repo and drilling down through
the UI to get to the part I am interested in? Seems crazy.

I think more apps would do well to learn from the windowing strategy of
Mail.app on Mac. It too has a monolithic main window where everything happens
--but Cmd-Opt-N creates a "New Viewer Window". Another complete window with
all the power of the first. Search for foo in window 1, read mail list bar in
window 2.

This sort of arrangement would make Github for Mac (and Tower) worth looking
at.

As it is, if I have to throw away several seconds of work _every_ _single_
_time_ _I_ _open_ _another_ _repo_ , those seconds are going to add up -- and
annoy me -- very quickly.

(By the way, just to check, I tried out making a few copies of the app and
opening multiple repos that way. Just like Tower, the app started to puke
modal error dialogs and show blank windows, so that doesn't work.)

------
antihero
Do they have a linux client?

------
hamedh
looks great, would be awesome to have keyboard shortcuts to go back/forward

------
pnathan
Oh, hey! This is awesome!

I am going to investigate this for my GitHub project.

------
skant
My Organization Repos don't show up.

------
theycallmemorty
Am I justified in being disappointed this doesn't support OS X 10.4 (Tiger)?

~~~
dolinsky
I think you mean "Is it reasonable to be disappointed this doesn't support
10.4", in which case no, I don't think it's reasonable. 10.4 stopped being
updated in Nov '07.

------
rjh29
I'm sorry, but in the world of awesomely-licensed Qt and other cross-platform
toolkits, why would you go out of your way to build a native app on Mac
libraries and only release it for a single platform?

I can understand that OS X probably has the biggest share of GitHub visitors,
but git is fully open source, GitHub seem to very much like open source, and
in the spirit of that I'd expect a native app that works on as many platforms
as possible.

~~~
eddieplan9
_a native app that works on as many platforms as possible_

The definition of _native app_ has changed. It's no longer a synonym for
compiled binary; or using native widget. It is not as simple as coding your UI
in a cross-platform toolkit. In these days, a native app means something that
feels like the built-in apps: it's beyond skinning and appearance and is more
about how the app as a whole interacts with the user to get the job done. As
the platforms diverge, it's now really hard - if not impossible - to make a
cross-platform native app. Among Performance, Cost, Time, Scope, you can only
pick three. GitHub sacrifices the scope.

~~~
rmc
The narrowing is almost due to web apps being much more full featured. Web
apps _are_ the cross platform write once applications we were promised.

------
leon_
Hmm, tried it out. Going "back" to plain old cli git. I got so used to the
command line that I'm faster with it.

------
ya3r
Guys, I must get a mac!

~~~
ghotli
Since you're new here I'll just give you an FYI. This kind of comment is going
to get you downvotes because it doesn't add anything tangible to the
discussion. We value a really high signal to noise ratio.

~~~
ya3r
Noted. Thanks

