1 # git-cola: The highly caffeinated Git GUI
3 Git Cola is a powerful Git GUI with a slick and intuitive user interface.
5 git clone https://github.com/git-cola/git-cola.git
7 [![License](https://img.shields.io/:license-GPL-green.svg)](LICENSE)
8 [![Build status](https://github.com/git-cola/git-cola/actions/workflows/main.yml/badge.svg?branch=main&event=push)](https://github.com/git-cola/git-cola/actions/workflows/main.yml)
9 [![OpenSSF Best Practices](https://bestpractices.coreinfrastructure.org/projects/251/badge)](https://bestpractices.coreinfrastructure.org/projects/251)
11 * [Screenshots](https://git-cola.github.io/screenshots.html)
13 * [Downloads](https://git-cola.github.io/downloads.html)
18 * [Keyboard shortcuts](https://git-cola.github.io/share/doc/git-cola/hotkeys.html)
20 * [HTML documentation](https://git-cola.readthedocs.io/en/latest/)
22 * [Git Cola documentation](docs/git-cola.rst)
24 * [Git DAG documentation](docs/git-dag.rst)
26 * [Contributing guidelines](CONTRIBUTING.md)
33 * [Sphinx](http://sphinx-doc.org/) is used to generate the documentation.
37 * [Git](https://git-scm.com/) 2.2.0 or newer.
39 * [Python](https://python.org/) 3.6 or newer.
41 * [QtPy](https://github.com/spyder-ide/qtpy) 1.1.0 or newer.
43 Git Cola uses QtPy, so you can choose between PyQt6, PyQt5 and PySide2 by setting
44 the `QT_API` environment variable to `pyqt6`, `pyqt5` or `pyside2` as desired.
45 `qtpy` defaults to `pyqt5` and falls back to `pyqt6` and `pyside2` if `pyqt5`
48 Any of the following Python Qt libraries must be installed:
50 * [PyQt5 / PyQt6](https://www.riverbankcomputing.com/software/pyqt/download5)
51 5.6 or newer is required. Qt 6.0 is also supported via QtPy.
53 * [PySide2](https://github.com/PySide/PySide)
59 Git Cola enables additional features when the following
60 Python modules are installed.
62 [send2trash](https://github.com/hsoft/send2trash) enables cross-platform
63 "Send to Trash" functionality.
68 **IMPORTANT**: never run `pip install` or `make install` as root or outside of a
71 There are several ways to install Git Cola.
75 Linux is it! Your distro has probably already packaged `git-cola`.
76 If not, please file a bug against your distribution ;-)
80 Available in the [AUR](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/git-cola/).
96 zypper install git-cola
100 Available in [SlackBuilds.org](http://slackbuilds.org/result/?search=git-cola).
104 [See here](https://packages.ubuntu.com/search?keywords=git-cola) for the
105 versions that are available in Ubuntu's repositories.
107 There was a [PPA by @pavreh](https://launchpad.net/~pavreh/+archive/ubuntu/git-cola)
108 but it has not been updated for a while.
113 # Install from official binary packages
114 pkg install -r FreeBSD devel/git-cola
117 cd /usr/ports/devel/git-cola && make clean install
120 ## Install into a Python Virtualenv from PyPI using pip
122 **IMPORTANT**: never run `pip install` or `make install` as root or outside of a
125 One way to install the latest released version is to use `venv` (virtualenv) and `pip`.
126 This installs [git-cola from pypi.org](https://pypi.org/project/git-cola/).
128 If you already have `PyQt5` installed from your distribution's package manager
129 then you should skip the `pip install PyQt` steps.
131 If you already have the `qt5-devel` package installed then you can lookup its version so
132 that your virtualenv can install a compatible version of PyQt using `qmake`:
134 QT_VERSION=$(qmake -query QT_VERSION)
135 QT_VERSION_MAJOR=$(qmake -query QT_VERSION | head -c 1)
136 echo PyQt${QT_VERSION_MAJOR}==${QT_VERSION}
138 Take note of the `PyQtX==A.B.C` value so that you can specify it when installing
139 PyQt below if, and only if, you have `qmake` installed and want to interoperate
140 with its corresponding Qt installation.
142 python3 -m venv --system-site-packages env3
144 # Skip this command if you already have PyQt installed or if you do not have qmake
145 ./env3/bin/pip install PyQt${QT_VERSION_MAJOR}==${QT_VERSION}
147 ./env3/bin/pip install git-cola
150 Add the `env3/bin` directory to your `PATH` or symlink to `bin/git-cola` from
151 somewhere in your `PATH` such as `~/.local/bin/git-cola`, and you can launch
152 Git Cola like any other built-in `git` command:
158 ## Install into a Python Virtualenv from Source
160 If you don't have PyQt installed then the easiest way to get it is to use a Python
161 virtualenv and install Git Cola into it in "editable" mode. This install method
162 lets you upgrade Git Cola by running `git pull`.
164 # Create a virtualenv called "env3" and activate it.
165 python3 -m venv --system-site-packages env3
166 source env3/bin/activate
168 # One-time setup: install optional requirements for development.
169 make requirements-dev requirements-optional
171 # Install git-cola in "editable" mode so that it uses the source tree.
174 # Run Git Cola via the "git-cola" Git subcommand.
178 If you add `env3/bin` (or symlink to `bin/git-cola` ) to your `$PATH` then you can
179 run `git cola` as if it were a builtin `git` command from outside of the virtualenv
180 (eg. after running "deactivate" or when opening a new shell).
183 ## Standalone Installation from Source
185 Running `make install prefix=$HOME/.local` will install Git Cola in your
186 `$HOME/.local` directory (`$HOME/.local/bin/git-cola`, `$HOME/.local/lib`, etc).
188 This installation method assumes that the `qtpy` and `PyQt*` dependencies have
191 The `Makefile` also supports `DESTDIR` to support creating packages for Linux package
194 make DESTDIR=/tmp/stage prefix=/usr/local install
199 For most end-users we recommend using either Homebrew or installing into
200 a Python virtualenv as described above.
202 You can install Git Cola from source using the same steps as above.
206 An easy way to install Git Cola is to use [Homebrew](https://brew.sh/) .
207 Use Homebrew to install the git-cola recipe:
209 brew install git-cola
211 If you install using Homebrew you can stop at this step.
212 You don't need to clone the repo or anything.
216 If you have all of the dependencies installed, either via `pip` or `brew` then
217 you can build a shell `git-cola.app` app bundle wrapper for use in `/Applications`.
219 If you'd like to build a `git-cola.app` bundle for `/Applications` run this command:
223 You will need to periodically rebuild the app wrapper whenever Python is upgraded.
225 ### Updating macOS and Homebrew
227 Updating macOS can often break Homebrew-managed software.
229 If you upgrade your macOS version and Git Cola no longer runs then then it is
230 recommended that you re-install Git Cola's dependencies after upgrading.
232 A quick fix when upgrading to newer versions of XCode or macOS is to
235 brew reinstall pyqt@5
237 You may also need to relink your pyqt installation:
241 This is required when upgrading to a modern (post-10.11 El Capitan) Mac OS X.
242 Homebrew now bundles its own Python3 installation instead of using the
243 system-provided default Python.
245 If the "brew reinstall" command above does not work then re-installing from
246 scratch using the instructions below should get things back in shape.
251 # uninstall git-cola and its dependencies
252 brew uninstall git-cola
256 # re-install git-cola and its dependencies
257 brew install git-cola
262 IMPORTANT If you have a 64-bit machine, install the 64-bit versions only.
263 Do not mix 32-bit and 64-bit versions.
265 Download and install the following:
267 * [Git for Windows](https://git-for-windows.github.io/)
269 * [Git Cola](https://github.com/git-cola/git-cola/releases)
271 Once these are installed you can run Git Cola from the Start menu.
273 See "Windows (Continued)" below for more details.
275 If you'd like to install Git Cola with
276 [winget](https://github.com/microsoft/winget-cli) run the following command:
278 winget install git-cola.git-cola
280 As there is no dependency resolution yet you have to install Git as well with:
282 winget install Git.Git
286 Git Cola ships with an interactive rebase editor called `git-cola-sequence-editor`.
287 `git-cola-sequence-editor` is used to reorder and choose commits when rebasing.
288 Start an interactive rebase through the "Rebase" menu, or through the
289 `git cola rebase` sub-command to use the `git-cola-sequence-editor`:
291 git cola rebase @{upstream}
293 `git-cola-sequence-editor` can be launched independently of git cola by telling
294 `git rebase` to use it as its editor through the `GIT_SEQUENCE_EDITOR`
295 environment variable:
297 export GIT_SEQUENCE_EDITOR="$HOME/git-cola/bin/git-cola-sequence-editor"
298 git rebase -i @{upstream}
302 Shell completion scripts are available for bash and zsh.
303 Each script contains instructions on how to install and activate the completions.
305 * [bash completion script](contrib/git-cola-completion.bash)
307 * [zsh completion script](contrib/_git-cola)
310 # Git Cola Sub-commands
312 The `git-cola` command exposes various sub-commands that allow you to quickly
313 launch tools that are available from within the git-cola interface.
314 For example, `git cola find` launches the file finder,
315 and `git cola grep` launches the grep tool.
317 See `git cola --help-commands` for the full list of commands.
319 $ git cola --help-commands
322 {cola,am,archive,branch,browse,config,
323 dag,diff,fetch,find,grep,merge,pull,push,
324 rebase,remote,search,stash,tag,version}
328 {cola,am,archive,branch,browse,config,
329 dag,diff,fetch,find,grep,merge,pull,push,
330 rebase,remote,search,stash,tag,version}
333 am apply patches using "git am"
334 archive save an archive
335 branch create a branch
336 browse browse repository
337 config edit configuration
344 pull pull remote branches
345 push push remote branches
346 rebase interactive rebase
348 search search commits
349 stash stash and unstash changes
351 version print the version
355 If you already have Git Cola's dependencies installed then you can
356 start `cola` as a Python module if you have the source code available.
362 The following commands should be run during development:
367 # Run tests and longer-running pylint and flake8 checks
370 # Run tests against multiple python interpreters using tox
373 The test suite can be found in the [test](test) directory.
375 Commits and pull requests are automatically tested for code quality
376 using [GitHub Actions](https://github.com/git-cola/git-cola/actions/workflows/main.yml).
378 Auto-format `cola/i18n/*.po` files before committing when updating translations:
382 When submitting patches, consult the
383 [contributing guidelines](CONTRIBUTING.md).
388 Git Cola installs its modules into the default Python site-packages directory
389 (eg. `lib/python3.7/site-packages`) using setuptools.
391 While end-users can use `pip install git-cola` to install Git Cola, distribution
392 packagers should use the `make prefix=/usr` install process. Git Cola's `Makefile` wraps
393 `pip install --prefix=<prefix>` to provide a packaging-friendly `make install` target.
396 # Windows (Continued)
398 ## Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable
400 Earlier versions of Git Cola may have shipped without `vcruntime140.dll` and may
401 not run on machines that are missing this DLL.
403 To fix this, download the
404 [Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=52685)
407 Git Cola v4.0.0 and newer include this DLL and do not require this to be installed
412 In order to develop Git Cola on Windows you will need to install
413 Python3 and pip. Install PyQt5 using `pip install PyQt5`
414 to make the PyQt5 bindings available to Python.
416 Once these are installed you can use `python.exe` to run
417 directly from the source tree. For example, from a Git Bash terminal:
419 /c/Python36/python.exe ./bin/git-cola
421 ## Multiple Python versions
423 If you have multiple versions of Python installed, the `contrib/win32/cola`
424 launcher script might choose the newer version instead of the python
425 that has PyQt installed. In order to resolve this, you can set the
426 `cola.pythonlocation` git configuration variable to tell cola where to
427 find python. For example:
429 git config --global cola.pythonlocation /c/Python39
431 ## Building Windows Installers
433 Windows installers are built using
435 * [Pynsist](https://pynsist.readthedocs.io/en/latest/).
437 * [NSIS](http://nsis.sourceforge.net/Main_Page) is also needed.
439 To build the installer using Pynsist run:
441 ./contrib/win32/run-pynsist.sh
443 This will generate an installer in `build/nsis/`.
445 ## Windows "History Browser" Configuration Upgrade
447 You may need to configure your history browser if you are upgrading from an
448 older version of Git Cola on Windows.
450 `gitk` was originally the default history browser, but `gitk` cannot be
451 launched as-is on Windows because `gitk` is a shell script.
453 If you are configured to use `gitk`, then change your configuration to
454 go through Git's `sh.exe` on Windows. Similarly, we must go through
455 `python.exe` if we want to use `git-dag`.
457 If you want to use gitk as your history browser open the
458 Preferences screen and change the history browser command to:
460 "C:/Program Files/Git/bin/sh.exe" --login -i C:/Git/bin/gitk
462 `git-dag` became the default history browser on Windows in `v2.3`, so new
463 users do not need to configure anything.