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GitHub for Windows

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Re: GitHub for Windows

#111

Post by GlennS »

jasonkester wrote: post #60

Great news. I got flamed a month ago [1] for noting how difficult it is to get up and running on GitHub in the Windows world, where things like generating SSH keys aren't exactly part of the daily routine. Glad to hear that they were listening. [1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3871699

I think it would really help you to have a play with command line Git, just to get a feel for what's going on. SSH keys aren't hard to learn and are useful enough to be worth the time spent.

By all means switch to using the GUI after.

Re: GitHub for Windows

#112

Post by drivebyacct2 »

ctz wrote: post #105
drivebyacct2 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Scary crypto stuff"? So you don't understand how PKI works and you're trying to use distributed source control? (I say this not to be a jerk, but because there aren't exactly a wealth of good alternatives given it is a distributed source control mechanism. PKI comes with the territory and an SSH key generation is part of that) GitHub doesn't take any more setup than a standard Git setup takes (well, outside of signi…

PKI has nothing to do with SSH keys. Github's use of SSH does not use certificates, and github has no certification infrastructure.

My apologies, I abuse "PKI" to mean "PK infrastructure" (which I know is what the acronym stands for, I'm making a bit of tongue-in-cheek commentary), I think it's silly that PKI implicitly means CAs but according to Wikipedia at least, you're correct.

Re: GitHub for Windows

#113

Post by drivebyacct2 »

eli wrote: post #110
drivebyacct2 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Scary crypto stuff"? So you don't understand how PKI works and you're trying to use distributed source control? (I say this not to be a jerk, but because there aren't exactly a wealth of good alternatives given it is a distributed source control mechanism. PKI comes with the territory and an SSH key generation is part of that) GitHub doesn't take any more setup than a standard Git setup takes (well, outside of signi…

For many people there Github = git, so saying github isn't much harder to set up than Git isn't saying much. Using git on Windows has historically not been super fun. The CLI installer mostly works, but it's pretty clunky. Cygwin works fine too, but it's also not especially elegant. At the very least, known of these solutions conform to the expectations of people of the platform. The GUI clients on Windows last I loo…

I don't know what difference the "Github = git" distinction makes, from an oAuth perspective it still seems implicitly obvious to me that completing the signup and adding SSH keys are distinct tasks.

As for "CLI installer" (I presume you mean the installer for the CLI git client), and Cygwin, I'm not sure what to say. I've used the Git installer dozens of times without problem, there aren't exactly tons of places for it to go wrong. Are there specific or particular issues you have with it?

I do indeed forget that some programmers manage to make it far resisting learning to use the command line. Even with step-by-step instructions. I guess at some people I'm willing to fault the developer rather than tools that are powerful that come with good documentation.

Re: GitHub for Windows

#114

Post by drivebyacct2 »

Roritharr wrote: post #101
cmelbye wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's one thing to be scared of the deep inner-workings of OpenSSH (which truly can be scary). It's another thing to be "scared" of ssh-keygen, especially considering it's something that most competent developers will use when managing servers, deploying to Heroku, managing source, etc. "ssh-keygen -t rsa", set a passcode on it, upload the id_rsa.pub and you're done. Demonstrating a lack of understanding of that was w…

Nobody said anything about it being scary to type "ssh-keygen -t rsa" but rather about the responsibility that comes with it. I'd bet my right hand the more than 25% of "competent developers" that are "managing servers" will have made security mistakes while storing their ssh keys on a level with storing the password in plaintext on a .txt file on the desktop. Thats whats scary about "crypto stuff", not that it isn't…

Outside of checking id_rsa into your Git repo or emailing it, (which would be equivalent to doing so with passwords.txt), SSH (and thus Git) protect you from leaving id_rsa with open permissions. Though it may not be obvious that id_rsa is something to protect. (though again, I don't go emailing random files I don't understand either).

That having been said, I'm certainly not a security expert. Are there other common things to look out for to ensure my private key(s) are safe?

Re: GitHub for Windows

#115

Post by drivebyacct2 »

cmelbye wrote: post #96
Roritharr wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is your problem with someone being scared of crypto stuff? I find this shows the necessary respect when dealing with security related tasks, since they are HARD. I'm not talking about developing crypto related software, but just setting up a "safe" environment where you can store your SSH Keys in a way that doesn't defeat the purpose of using them in the first place is non-trivial, even for people with degrees.…

It's one thing to be scared of the deep inner-workings of OpenSSH (which truly can be scary). It's another thing to be "scared" of ssh-keygen, especially considering it's something that most competent developers will use when managing servers, deploying to Heroku, managing source, etc. "ssh-keygen -t rsa", set a passcode on it, upload the id_rsa.pub and you're done. Demonstrating a lack of understanding of that was w…

I'm surprised that the responses to this amount to, "I don't understand it, don't want to follow instructions and want a two-click GUI". Git isn't magic. To leverage it well, you need to be willing to get down and dirty with the CLI sooner or later. If you're unwilling to learn Git, don't use it.

If you're a dev, source control is one of your tools. Learn it or find a tool that holds your hand more. I don't know how it gets more hand-holdy than step by step instructions that take 4 minutes to carry out.

Is anyone going to actually reply, or should I continue taking downvotes as "I disagree or I deserve more hand-holding"?

Re: GitHub for Windows

#116

Post by andybak »

drivebyacct2 wrote: post #75
jasonkester wrote: post #60

Great news. I got flamed a month ago [1] for noting how difficult it is to get up and running on GitHub in the Windows world, where things like generating SSH keys aren't exactly part of the daily routine. Glad to hear that they were listening. [1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3871699

"Scary crypto stuff"? So you don't understand how PKI works and you're trying to use distributed source control? (I say this not to be a jerk, but because there aren't exactly a wealth of good alternatives given it is a distributed source control mechanism. PKI comes with the territory and an SSH key generation is part of that) GitHub doesn't take any more setup than a standard Git setup takes (well, outside of signi…

I get really sick of this attitude.

None of us want to understand every single domain of knowledge from set theory or quantum physics up to cosmology or social psychology.

I personally have been forced to learn more low-level Unixy things than I ever wanted to. I want to write simple and elegant front and back end code quickly so I can spend my spare time honing UX and other human-facing aspects of my work.

I resent being flamed because I don't fully understand the subtleties of zsh or nginx or or whatever other shiny toy someone else happens to find essential knowledge. Your world might not necessarily be mine.

Re: GitHub for Windows

#117

Post by HarshaThota »

xpaulbettsx wrote: post #99
HarshaThota wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't know if it's mature enough but have you looked at NSync ( https://github.com/xpaulbettsx/NSync )? Considering that Paul has been working on it and yet choose to go with ClickOnce, I am guessing it's not ready for prime time but it might be worth looking into anyway.

NSync isn't finished yet - ClickOnce is 95% of what we want but has some pretty damning flaws (tells people randomly that an app is "Unknown Publisher", certs expire after one year and now people have to uninstall/reinstall, proxy server problems, etc). NSync is my ongoing (not finished yet!) project to recreate ClickOnce

I figured that was the case.

How much of an overlap do NSync and NAppUpdate (https://github.com/synhershko/NAppUpdate) share? Would love to see some type of collaboration between the two.

BTW is there a way to submit tickets other than email for GitHub for Windows? Maybe a GitHub repo? Would make it rather easy to submit and track issues while also limiting the number of duplicates.

Re: GitHub for Windows

#118

Post by pthread »

Funny how most git users out there (at least according to the git user's survery 2011 [1]) use Linux, yet github seems to go out of its way not to build a tool for its majority of users. I would also go as far as to extrapolate and state that most github users are Linux users (which is true for every programmer I know on github).

Would it have been that hard to just use Qt and build a cross platform tool? Or is that not hipster-friendly enough?

I guess it's cool to profit, not that cool to give back. I wouldn't use their tool anyway but I think they're assholes on this one.

[1] https://www.survs.com/results/Q5CA9SKQ/P7DE07F0PL

Re: GitHub for Windows

#119

Post by debacle »

Please, please don't name your installer 'setup.exe'

When I browse to my downloads folder, the most frustrating thing in the world is trying to figure out where 'setup.exe' came from.

Re: GitHub for Windows

#120

Post by wnoise »

andybak wrote: post #116
drivebyacct2 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Scary crypto stuff"? So you don't understand how PKI works and you're trying to use distributed source control? (I say this not to be a jerk, but because there aren't exactly a wealth of good alternatives given it is a distributed source control mechanism. PKI comes with the territory and an SSH key generation is part of that) GitHub doesn't take any more setup than a standard Git setup takes (well, outside of signi…

I get really sick of this attitude. None of us want to understand every single domain of knowledge from set theory or quantum physics up to cosmology or social psychology. I personally have been forced to learn more low-level Unixy things than I ever wanted to. I want to write simple and elegant front and back end code quickly so I can spend my spare time honing UX and other human-facing aspects of my work. I resent…

> None of us want to understand every single domain of knowledge from set theory or quantum physics up to cosmology or social psychology.

Speak for yourself. All of those are fascinating.

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