Help page for GitVine

Getting Started

Quick Tips

Installation & Usage

• Install GitVine using the Installer, Store or directly running the downloaded GitVine binary appropriate for your OS.
  
  • If using the binary directly or installer, its recommended to add its location to your execution %PATH%, which is useful for command line operations.
  • Windows: If installing from the Windows Store, GitVine adds itself to the execution path.
  • Linux: Copy the "GitVine" binary to your "bin" directory & mark as an executable. Console command: chmod +x GitVine
  • MacOS: Install from the GitVine.dmg file, it will then be available in your Applications.


• Launch GitVine in different ways as below:
  1. Launch GitVine & then File → Open File or Folder.
  2. Command Line: GitVine file_or_folder_path
  3. Configure your IDE, command line etc with the command line parameters for the selected file.
     
     Example for Visual Studio Integration via External Tools:
     

     Using Visual Studio 2019 Menu → Tools → External Tools (Dialog) → Press "Add" Button
     And use the following settings:
     Title: GitVine
     Command: GitVine.exe
     Arguments: $(ItemPath)
     Option: Enable Close on Exit
     

Pre-Requisites

• Git Version >= 2.23 Installed & configured to be in your execution path.


• Git Options for diff.tool and difftool.toolname.path configured.
  Supported & tested are: Beyond Compare & Meld, but others should also work.
  This can also be set via Tools → Options → Git Config or See 'git difftool --tool-help' for more details.
  


• Git Option core.editor configured.
  This can also be set via Tools → Options → Git Config.
  Supported & tested are: Notepad++ on Windows, TextEdit on MacOS, but others should also work.


• For GitVine's Integrated Terminal, its needs to be installed separately and configured before use.
  Recommended are Windows Terminal (Windows 10/11) or Hyper (Cross Platform). Both are free & compatible with GitVine.
  
  
  1. Install Windows Terminal from Microsoft Store.
     
     • In GitVine, open Tools → Options → Terminal. Enter "wt.exe" in the AppPath Edit Box.
     • Press Save to save the Terminal settings.
     • Windows Terminal Settings need to be edited to allow GitVine to open a terminal in the current working directory
       In Windows Terminal, open its settings from the menu. This will open its settings.json file.
       Go the "Profiles" section & Add following line to the "defaults" section.
       "startingDirectory" : "%__CD__%"
       Save the edited settings.json
       
  2. Install Hyper from Hyper Homepage.
     
     • In GitVine, goto Tools → Options → Terminal & browse to the installed hyper binary.
       
     Typical Hyper's Installed Locations:
     Windows: C:\Users\your_user_name\AppData\Local\hyper\app-3.0.2\Hyper.exe
     Linux: /opt/Hyper/hyper
     
     • Press Save to save the Terminal settings.
  
  To launch the configured terminal, open Tools Menu → Terminal
  Hyper Terminal should launch & dock itself within GitVine.
  To close the Terminal, either close the terminal itself or toggle it off from Tools Menu → Terminal
  
  Notes:
  • If you see a 'failed to latch' message and the Terminal not docking in GitVine, try increasing the "Latch Delay" time in Tools → Options → Terminal
    
  • Other terminals like cmd.exe, powershell.exe will NOT integrate directly inside GitVine
    However, Windows Terminal & Hyper can both be configured to launch different shells like powershell, cmd etc within it.
    
  • macOS does not support the mechanism used by GitVine to create an integrated/docked terminal window.
    So the Terminal will be launched as a separate non-integrated application on macOS.
    

FAQs

• How many commits can be shown ?
  Last 1000. Limited for performance reasons.


• Can I modify, commit & push changes ?
  Yes. This is available since Version 1.5 in the context/right click menu.


• Can GitVine run on my company network/proxy ?
  Yes. But it may not be able to access the internet directly for its update check, through your company proxy server.
  Configure your proxy settings in Tools/Options/Network/Proxy Settings.
  Another workaround is to specify/export your proxy environment variables on the command line, batch file or system settings.
  set HTTPS_PROXY=http://your_user_name:your_password@proxy_address:port_number
  set HTTP_PROXY=http://your_user_name:your_password@proxy_address:port_number
  

TODOs

• Branch Names like Clearcase [EB, JM]
• Add Stash Management
• Add Database/Repository Stats
• Support "Sign Off" Mechanism
• Plugin system for more tools. [MC]
• Add Integrated Terminal for macOS. (Not possible yet due to macOS + QT Limitations.)
• It starts in full-screen mode every time [TW] (v8.3 Application window size/positions are now saved and restored)
• While opening files/folders, always starts in a fixed location [TW] (v8.3 Last used folder/repository is now remembered)
• Show SHA in list of commits & graph. [KK] (v8.1 Toggle from View → 'Show Numeric IDs')
• Edit File with different/configurable editors. [MC] (v8.0 Added Tools → Options → Git Config, to configure important Git options)
• Some way to report a list of changed files between commits. [MC] (v8.0 Added Report Comparison Mode)
• Tip of the Day.[MC] (v7.3 Added Help Pages and Tip of the Day.)
• Arrow direction of git commits [CL] (v7.2 Configurable Arrow Direction)
• Commit Explorer/Tree [JM] (v4.0 onwards has a clickable file list in Propeties Dialog)
• Small Display Repaint glitches when nodes are moved around.
• Add way to copy branch/refs. [MB]
• Full Commit Messages/File List for all commits, load in worker thread. (For use in "Find Commit" - Message.)
• Curved Arrows connections getting corrupted on move.
• Add Branch Info.
• List Remotes [MC] See Remotes (tooltip) on status Bar.
• Right click send to editor [MC] See Tools → Edit File.
• Locate Parent on right click menu. [MC]
• Very Slow Performance on git/git-gui repos. [PY]
• Head (arrow) not pointing to actual HEAD. [PY]
• Signed-off-by" trailers are missing the email addresses. [PY]
• "Properties for (#)") is not wide enough to properly show the 80 character width commit messages.[PO]
• Directory as Arg1 & Directory comparison processing.
• Show a Commit Properties Window → Right Click or Double Click.
• Copy to Clipboard Commit Text/SHA/Message etc from tree.
• Find/Search for Commits.
• Windows Explorer Integration → Use GitVineExplorer.zip.
• Linux & MacOS Binaries. [Reddit]
• Add support for --first-parent → View Menu → First Parent.
• Retain User settings.
• Fixed selection from right click./li>
• Add Dark Mode → View Menu → Dark Mode.
• More table columns, user, date etc.
• Auto Sync & Scroll Table & Tree.
• Bug: Tree may not always scroll to the right place.

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