Back in prehistoric times, our decision on whether or not to show color by default relied on using a config callback that either did or didn't load color config like color.diff. When we introduced color.ui, we put it in the same boat: commands had to manually respect it by using git_color_config() or its git_color_default_config() convenience wrapper. But in 4c7f1819b (make color.ui default to 'auto', 2013-06-10), that changed. Since then, we default color.ui to auto in all programs, meaning that even plumbing commands like "git diff-tree --pretty" might colorize the output. Nobody seems to have complained in the intervening years, presumably because the "is stdout a tty" check does a good job of catching the right cases. But that leaves an interesting curiosity: color.ui defaults to auto even in plumbing, but you can't actually _disable_ the color via config. So if you really hate color and set "color.ui" to false, diff-tree will still show color (but porcelain like git-diff won't). Nobody noticed that either, probably because very few people disable color. One could argue that the plumbing should _always_ disable color unless an explicit --color option is given on the command line. But in practice, this creates a lot of complications for scripts which do want plumbing to show user-visible output. They can't just pass "--color" blindly; they need to check the user's config and decide what to send. Given that nobody has complained about the current behavior, let's assume it's a good path, and follow it to its conclusion: supporting color.ui everywhere. Note that you can create havoc by setting color.ui=always in your config, but that's more or less already the case. We could disallow it entirely, but it is handy for one-offs like: git -c color.ui=always foo >not-a-tty when "foo" does not take a --color option itself. Signed-off-by: Jeff King <peff@peff.net> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Git - fast, scalable, distributed revision control system
Git is a fast, scalable, distributed revision control system with an unusually rich command set that provides both high-level operations and full access to internals.
Git is an Open Source project covered by the GNU General Public License version 2 (some parts of it are under different licenses, compatible with the GPLv2). It was originally written by Linus Torvalds with help of a group of hackers around the net.
Please read the file INSTALL for installation instructions.
Many Git online resources are accessible from https://git-scm.com/ including full documentation and Git related tools.
See Documentation/gittutorial.txt to get started, then see
Documentation/giteveryday.txt for a useful minimum set of commands, and
Documentation/git-.txt for documentation of each command.
If git has been correctly installed, then the tutorial can also be
read with man gittutorial or git help tutorial, and the
documentation of each command with man git-<commandname> or git help <commandname>.
CVS users may also want to read Documentation/gitcvs-migration.txt
(man gitcvs-migration or git help cvs-migration if git is
installed).
The user discussion and development of Git take place on the Git mailing list -- everyone is welcome to post bug reports, feature requests, comments and patches to git@vger.kernel.org (read Documentation/SubmittingPatches for instructions on patch submission). To subscribe to the list, send an email with just "subscribe git" in the body to majordomo@vger.kernel.org. The mailing list archives are available at https://public-inbox.org/git/, http://marc.info/?l=git and other archival sites.
The maintainer frequently sends the "What's cooking" reports that list the current status of various development topics to the mailing list. The discussion following them give a good reference for project status, development direction and remaining tasks.
The name "git" was given by Linus Torvalds when he wrote the very first version. He described the tool as "the stupid content tracker" and the name as (depending on your mood):
- random three-letter combination that is pronounceable, and not actually used by any common UNIX command. The fact that it is a mispronunciation of "get" may or may not be relevant.
- stupid. contemptible and despicable. simple. Take your pick from the dictionary of slang.
- "global information tracker": you're in a good mood, and it actually works for you. Angels sing, and a light suddenly fills the room.
- "goddamn idiotic truckload of sh*t": when it breaks