Git with WD-40 Applied | Hacker News Reader

Git with WD-40 Applied

github.com

8 pointsakagusu8 comments

Background:

Git (the version control tool) is experimenting with Rust (programming language). Some people are unhappy about this.

metux, author of most recent commit on this repo, is famous for his Xorg fork. TL/DR: Xorg maintainers focused on keeping things working and did not want new features. metux was Xorg contributor who was working on many new features, but also introduced many breaking regressions, which caused his contributions to be reverted. Eventually metux made Xorg fork called "Xlibre" where he can move as fast as he can, and break as many things as he wants to.

Here we have a repo which is a fork of git with a single commit by metux, titled "apply WD-40 .." which removes Rust parts (it's a joke on the fact because WD-40 is a sprayable oil that can be used to remove rust (iron oxide)).

Note this commit is symbolic: at present, Rust is optional in Git, so there is no need to remove it - just set a build-time option. So by starting this fork, metux (or whatever group he belongs to) effectively promises to maintain git without rust, presumably rewriting rust-based features into C. Or maybe metux is just trolling someone, and this repo will be forgotten next week. Time will tell.

> Note this commit is symbolic: at present, Rust is optional in Git, so there is no need to remove it - just set a build-time option

While your comment is true, it's worth pointing out that the intended future state is that rust will stop being optional; as per https://git-scm.com/docs/BreakingChanges ,

> Git will require Rust as a mandatory part of the build process.

Although, it also notes

> We will evaluate the impact on downstream distributions before making Rust mandatory in Git 3.0. If we see that the impact on downstream distributions would be significant, we may decide to defer this change to a subsequent minor release. This evaluation will also take into account our own experience with how painful it is to keep Rust an optional component.

so I suppose we'll see how exactly things play out.

You forgot to mention that XLibre, in opposition to Xorg, actually works, and have many fixes that Xorg refused to implement.

Not sure what you mean that Xorg does not "actually work"? I am using it on all my computers, works fine.

(That said, I am pretty sure there is some exotic hardware out there where the Xlibre works and Xorg does not, just like the opposite direction where only Xorg works. But I don't know the numbers... I suspect once people get a working X server, they won't try another one)

Allow me to echo the sibling comment: As I type this comment on Xorg, I assure you it does "actually work". I'm very open to the idea that it has room for improvements - I am specifically aware of features it lacks, and history appears to suggest plenty of room for bug/robustness improvements - but that's not the same as saying that it outright doesn't work.

Didn't expect it so quick, but it was inevitable. Rust requirement reduces platform portability by more than half, so all those who want to use git on them would have to do it anyway.

I don't like organisation name though. It's a bit silly to name an organisation this way.

What is it?

A vanity repo with all the rust code removed from git.

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