The Git version for Meson is currently wired up manually. It can thus
grow (and already has grown) stale quite easily, as having multiple
sources of truth is never a good idea. This issue is mostly of cosmetic
nature as we don't use the project version anywhere, and instead use the
GIT-VERSION-GEN script to propagate the correct version into our build.
But it is somewhat puzzling when `meson setup` announces to build an old
Git release.
There are a couple of alternatives for how to solve this:
- We can keep the version undefined, but this makes Meson output
"undefined" for the version, as well.
- We can use GIT-VERSION-GEN to generate the version for us. At the
point of configuring the project we haven't yet figured out host
details though, and thus we didn't yet set up the shell environment.
While not an issue for Unix-based systems, this would be an issue in
Windows, where the shell typically gets provided via Git for Windows
and thus requires some special setup.
- We can pull the default version out of GIT-VERSION-GEN and move it
into its own file. This likely requires some adjustments for scripts
that bump the version, but allows Meson to read the version from
that file trivially.
Pick the second option and use GIT-VERSION-GEN as it gives us the most
accurate version. In order to fix the bootstrapping issue on Windows
systems we simply set the version to 'unknown' in case no shell was
found. As the version is only of cosmetic value this isn't really much
of an issue.
Signed-off-by: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
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-<commandname>.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 and Documentation/CodingGuidelines).
Those wishing to help with error message, usage and informational message
string translations (localization l10) should see po/README.md
(a po file is a Portable Object file that holds the translations).
To subscribe to the list, send an email to git+subscribe@vger.kernel.org (see https://subspace.kernel.org/subscribing.html for details). The mailing list archives are available at https://lore.kernel.org/git/, https://marc.info/?l=git and other archival sites.
Issues which are security relevant should be disclosed privately to the Git Security mailing list git-security@googlegroups.com.
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