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/ci.yml/badge.svg?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)
10 [![pre-commit.ci](https://results.pre-commit.ci/badge/github/git-cola/git-cola/main.svg)](https://results.pre-commit.ci/latest/github/git-cola/git-cola/main)
12 * [Screenshots](https://git-cola.github.io/screenshots.html)
14 * [Downloads](https://git-cola.github.io/downloads.html)
19 * [Keyboard shortcuts](https://git-cola.github.io/share/doc/git-cola/hotkeys.html)
21 * [HTML documentation](https://git-cola.readthedocs.io/en/latest/)
23 * [Git Cola documentation](docs/git-cola.rst)
25 * [Git DAG documentation](docs/git-dag.rst)
27 * [Contributing guidelines](CONTRIBUTING.md)
34 * [Sphinx](http://sphinx-doc.org/) is used to generate the documentation.
38 * [Git](https://git-scm.com/) 2.2.0 or newer.
40 * [Python](https://python.org/) 3.6 or newer.
42 * [QtPy](https://github.com/spyder-ide/qtpy) 1.1.0 or newer.
44 Git Cola uses QtPy, so you can choose between PyQt6, PyQt5 and PySide2 by setting
45 the `QT_API` environment variable to `pyqt6`, `pyqt5` or `pyside2` as desired.
46 `qtpy` defaults to `pyqt5` and falls back to `pyqt6` and `pyside2` if `pyqt5`
49 Any of the following Python Qt libraries must be installed:
51 * [PyQt5 / PyQt6](https://www.riverbankcomputing.com/software/pyqt/download5)
52 5.6 or newer is required. Qt 6.0 is also supported via QtPy.
54 * [PySide2](https://github.com/PySide/PySide)
60 Git Cola enables additional features when the following
61 Python modules are installed.
63 [send2trash](https://github.com/hsoft/send2trash) enables cross-platform
64 "Send to Trash" functionality.
69 **IMPORTANT**: never run `pip install` or `garden install` outside of a
70 Python virtualenv or as root!
72 There are several ways to install Git Cola.
76 Linux is it! Your distro has probably already packaged `git-cola`.
77 If not, please file a bug against your distribution ;-)
81 Available in the [AUR](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/git-cola/).
97 zypper install git-cola
101 Available in [SlackBuilds.org](http://slackbuilds.org/result/?search=git-cola).
105 [See here](https://packages.ubuntu.com/search?keywords=git-cola) for the
106 versions that are available in Ubuntu's repositories.
108 There was a [PPA by @pavreh](https://launchpad.net/~pavreh/+archive/ubuntu/git-cola)
109 but it has not been updated for a while.
114 # Install from official binary packages
115 pkg install -r FreeBSD devel/git-cola
118 cd /usr/ports/devel/git-cola && make clean install
121 ## Install into a Python Virtualenv from PyPI using pip
123 **IMPORTANT**: never run `pip install` or `garden install` outside of a
124 Python virtualenv or as root!
126 One way to install the latest released version is to use `venv` (virtualenv) and `pip`.
127 This installs [git-cola from pypi.org](https://pypi.org/project/git-cola/).
129 If you already have `PyQt5` installed from your distribution's package manager
130 then you should skip the `pip install PyQt` steps.
132 If you already have the `qt5-devel` package installed then you can lookup its version so
133 that your virtualenv can install a compatible version of PyQt using `qmake`:
135 QT_VERSION=$(qmake -query QT_VERSION)
136 QT_VERSION_MAJOR=$(qmake -query QT_VERSION | head -c 1)
137 echo PyQt${QT_VERSION_MAJOR}==${QT_VERSION}
139 Take note of the `PyQtX==A.B.C` value so that you can specify it when installing
140 PyQt below if, and only if, you have `qmake` installed and want to interoperate
141 with its corresponding Qt installation.
143 python3 -m venv --system-site-packages env3
145 # Skip this command if you already have PyQt installed or if you do not have qmake
146 ./env3/bin/pip install PyQt${QT_VERSION_MAJOR}==${QT_VERSION}
148 ./env3/bin/pip install git-cola
151 Add the `env3/bin` directory to your `PATH` or symlink to `bin/git-cola` from
152 somewhere in your `PATH` such as `~/.local/bin/git-cola`, and you can launch
153 Git Cola like any other built-in `git` command:
159 ## Install into a Python Virtualenv from Source
161 If you don't have PyQt installed then the easiest way to get it is to use a Python
162 virtualenv and install Git Cola into it in "editable" mode. This install method
163 lets you upgrade Git Cola by running `git pull`.
165 # Create a virtualenv called "env3" and activate it.
166 python3 -m venv --system-site-packages env3
167 source env3/bin/activate
169 # One-time setup: install dev and optional runtime requirements
170 garden requirements/dev
171 garden requirements/opt
173 # Install git-cola in "editable" mode so that it uses the source tree.
176 # Run Git Cola via the "git-cola" Git subcommand.
180 If you add `env3/bin` (or symlink to `bin/git-cola` ) to your `$PATH` then you can
181 run `git cola` as if it were a builtin `git` command from outside of the virtualenv
182 (eg. after running "deactivate" or when opening a new shell).
185 ## Standalone Installation from Source
187 Running `garden -D prefix=$HOME/.local install` will install Git Cola in your
188 `$HOME/.local` directory (`$HOME/.local/bin/git-cola`, `$HOME/.local/lib`, etc).
190 This installation method assumes that the `qtpy` and `PyQt*` dependencies have
193 The Garden recipe also supports `DESTDIR` to support creating packages for Linux package
196 garden -D DESTDIR=/tmp/stage -D prefix=/usr/local install
201 For most end-users we recommend using either Homebrew or installing into
202 a Python virtualenv as described above.
204 You can install Git Cola from source using the same steps as above.
208 An easy way to install Git Cola is to use [Homebrew](https://brew.sh/) .
209 Use Homebrew to install the git-cola recipe:
211 brew install git-cola
213 If you install using Homebrew you can stop at this step.
214 You don't need to clone the repo or anything.
218 If you have all of the dependencies installed, either via `pip` or `brew` then
219 you can build a shell `git-cola.app` app bundle wrapper for use in `/Applications`.
221 If you'd like to build a `git-cola.app` bundle for `/Applications` run this command:
225 You will need to periodically rebuild the app wrapper whenever Python is upgraded.
227 ### Updating macOS and Homebrew
229 Updating macOS can often break Homebrew-managed software.
231 If you upgrade your macOS version and Git Cola no longer runs then then it is
232 recommended that you re-install Git Cola's dependencies after upgrading.
234 A quick fix when upgrading to newer versions of XCode or macOS is to
237 brew reinstall pyqt@5
239 You may also need to relink your pyqt installation:
243 This is required when upgrading to a modern (post-10.11 El Capitan) Mac OS X.
244 Homebrew now bundles its own Python3 installation instead of using the
245 system-provided default Python.
247 If the "brew reinstall" command above does not work then re-installing from
248 scratch using the instructions below should get things back in shape.
253 # uninstall git-cola and its dependencies
254 brew uninstall git-cola
258 # re-install git-cola and its dependencies
259 brew install git-cola
264 IMPORTANT If you have a 64-bit machine, install the 64-bit versions only.
265 Do not mix 32-bit and 64-bit versions.
267 Download and install the following:
269 * [Git for Windows](https://git-for-windows.github.io/)
271 * [Git Cola](https://github.com/git-cola/git-cola/releases)
273 Once these are installed you can run Git Cola from the Start menu.
275 See "Windows (Continued)" below for more details.
277 If you'd like to install Git Cola with
278 [winget](https://github.com/microsoft/winget-cli) run the following command:
280 winget install git-cola.git-cola
282 As there is no dependency resolution yet you have to install Git as well with:
284 winget install Git.Git
288 Git Cola ships with an interactive rebase editor called `git-cola-sequence-editor`.
289 `git-cola-sequence-editor` is used to reorder and choose commits when rebasing.
290 Start an interactive rebase through the "Rebase" menu, or through the
291 `git cola rebase` sub-command to use the `git-cola-sequence-editor`:
293 git cola rebase @{upstream}
295 `git-cola-sequence-editor` can be launched independently of git cola by telling
296 `git rebase` to use it as its editor through the `GIT_SEQUENCE_EDITOR`
297 environment variable:
299 export GIT_SEQUENCE_EDITOR="$HOME/git-cola/bin/git-cola-sequence-editor"
300 git rebase -i @{upstream}
304 Shell completion scripts are available for bash and zsh.
305 Each script contains instructions on how to install and activate the completions.
307 * [bash completion script](contrib/git-cola-completion.bash)
309 * [zsh completion script](contrib/_git-cola)
312 # Git Cola Sub-commands
314 The `git-cola` command exposes various sub-commands that allow you to quickly
315 launch tools that are available from within the git-cola interface.
316 For example, `git cola find` launches the file finder,
317 and `git cola grep` launches the grep tool.
319 See `git cola --help-commands` for the full list of commands.
321 $ git cola --help-commands
324 {cola,am,archive,branch,browse,config,
325 dag,diff,fetch,find,grep,merge,pull,push,
326 rebase,remote,search,stash,tag,version}
330 {cola,am,archive,branch,browse,config,
331 dag,diff,fetch,find,grep,merge,pull,push,
332 rebase,remote,search,stash,tag,version}
335 am apply patches using "git am"
336 archive save an archive
337 branch create a branch
338 browse browse repository
339 config edit configuration
346 pull pull remote branches
347 push push remote branches
348 rebase interactive rebase
350 search search commits
351 stash stash and unstash changes
353 version print the version
357 If you already have Git Cola's dependencies installed then you can
358 start `cola` as a Python module if you have the source code available.
364 The following commands should be run during development:
369 # Run tests and longer-running pylint checks
372 # Run tests against multiple python interpreters using tox
375 The test suite can be found in the [test](test) directory.
377 Commits and pull requests are automatically tested for code quality
378 using [GitHub Actions](https://github.com/git-cola/git-cola/actions/workflows/main.yml).
380 Auto-format `cola/i18n/*.po` files before committing when updating translations:
384 When submitting patches, consult the
385 [contributing guidelines](CONTRIBUTING.md).
390 Git Cola installs its modules into the default Python site-packages directory
391 (eg. `lib/python3.7/site-packages`) using setuptools.
393 While end-users can use `pip install git-cola` to install Git Cola, distribution
394 packagers should use the `garden -D prefix=/usr install` process. Git Cola's Garden
395 recipe wraps `pip install --prefix=<prefix>` to provide a packaging-friendly
396 `garden install` target.
399 # Windows (Continued)
401 ## Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable
403 Earlier versions of Git Cola may have shipped without `vcruntime140.dll` and may
404 not run on machines that are missing this DLL.
406 To fix this, download the
407 [Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=52685)
410 Git Cola v4.0.0 and newer include this DLL and do not require this to be installed
415 In order to develop Git Cola on Windows you will need to install
416 Python3 and pip. Install PyQt5 using `pip install PyQt5`
417 to make the PyQt5 bindings available to Python.
419 Once these are installed you can use `python.exe` to run
420 directly from the source tree. For example, from a Git Bash terminal:
422 /c/Python39/python.exe ./bin/git-cola
424 ## Multiple Python versions
426 If you have multiple versions of Python installed, the `contrib/win32/cola`
427 launcher script might choose the newer version instead of the python
428 that has PyQt installed. In order to resolve this, you can set the
429 `cola.pythonlocation` git configuration variable to tell cola where to
430 find python. For example:
432 git config --global cola.pythonlocation /c/Python39
434 ## Building Windows Installers
436 Windows installers are built using
438 * [Pynsist](https://pynsist.readthedocs.io/en/latest/).
440 * [NSIS](http://nsis.sourceforge.net/Main_Page) is also needed.
442 To build the installer using Pynsist run:
444 ./contrib/win32/run-pynsist.sh
446 This will generate an installer in `build/nsis/`.
448 ## Windows "History Browser" Configuration Upgrade
450 You may need to configure your history browser if you are upgrading from an
451 older version of Git Cola on Windows.
453 `gitk` was originally the default history browser, but `gitk` cannot be
454 launched as-is on Windows because `gitk` is a shell script.
456 If you are configured to use `gitk`, then change your configuration to
457 go through Git's `sh.exe` on Windows. Similarly, we must go through
458 `python.exe` if we want to use `git-dag`.
460 If you want to use gitk as your history browser open the
461 Preferences screen and change the history browser command to:
463 "C:/Program Files/Git/bin/sh.exe" --login -i C:/Git/bin/gitk
465 `git-dag` became the default history browser on Windows in `v2.3`, so new
466 users do not need to configure anything.