Introducing GitHub Compare View | Hacker News Reader

Introducing GitHub Compare View

github.com

72 pointsmqt11 comments

This is so freaking awesome! Right now, I've been using a custom `git review` command to enable code reviews of patches using rietveld http://code.google.com/p/rietveld/

Whilst rietveld is nice -- in that it makes it relatively painless for someone to upload a patch and have it reviewed -- it certainly isn't pretty and requires several additional steps to a normal git workflow.

I can see Git Compare Views totally changing the game. It's awesome as it is, but it would be super nice if they'd add 2 extra features.

(1) Support for comparing commits across forks of the same repository, e.g. http://github.com/<user>/<repo>/compare/[...;

Then anyone can come along; fork your project; make some changes in their fork; you can then review the changes; all the comments across the two repositories would be consolidated in the compare view, making it easy to see the evolution!

That is, by consolidating the comments, it can take the already decentralised and super collaborative nature of git and github to a whole new level.

(2) Provide an API for the information provided in the compare view. This will make it easy to integrate with other tools like issue trackers, buildbots, trybots, testswarms, &c.

All in all, I'm very impressed with the GitHub guys and their constant innovations — we need more teams like theirs!

I'm not sure if this is really an innovation. Trac has had something similar for years. Github is arguably doing it better, but in the source control world, this isn't that original.

As for the API, I agree. Although I'm not sure how much more you need than just the URL...

I wouldn't say it was an innovation either, but Github just works and it makes life better... and this makes Github even better.

Customers don't pay for innovation, they pay for value. Who cares if its innovative if it's better?

Upvoted, but I was hoping for something with a little more of Meld and a little less of color-coded diff -u.

you know, the meld/p4merge style side by side diff views have always been rather confusing to me. i've been trying to learn to use vimdiff for merge conflicts lately and it's just not as intuitive to me as inline conflict markers. i'm really more of a fan of the inline diff for some reason.

Maybe you don't have a monitor big enough? :)

(I merge conflicts by inline markers too, which might mean that like you I'm simply Too Old. But for a vanilla diff Meld is pure win.)

We've just added a Meld/IntelliJ style diff to FishEye 2.2, e.g., http://sandbox.fisheye.atlassian.com/browse/rails/actionpack...

Is this somehow different from how they showed differences between files in the fork queue? I forked my first repo a week or so ago, and saw something identical to this, but it could be I got on the first set of changes.

Not to say it's not ridiculously awesome, that is. This is a fantastic way to see differences. GitHub is awesome.

The feature has actually been live for a month (or two?). We just haven't had much UI pointing to it, so it's very likely you have seen it before.

The fork queue doesn't show diffs or commit comments, or differences between branches on the same repo (for instance: reviewing a topic branch). Similarly, the compare view does not allow comparing across forks (yet).

God I love GitHub.

I had never contributed to any open source project before GH came along. Since then, I've contributed to at least 5, that I can remember. That's nothing compared to many, I know .. but how much does it all add up? What's the total value of the efficiency gain GH has brought to the open source world?

Indispensable.

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