Is there a GUI client for Git?

Question

I am using git for version control of various projects.

Is there GUI software for navigating through commits and branches of a project and for retrieving versions in git projects?

Answer 1

I guess you are looking for an easy to use front-end for git.

Take a look at "Graphical Interfaces" section of InterfacesFrontendsAndTools page on Git Wiki. There the following have been mentioned:

• gitk - graphical history browser, in Tcl/Tk, distributed with Git (usually in gitk package)
• git gui - graphical commit tool, in Tcl/Tk, distributed with Git (usually in git-gui package)
• QGit - uses Qt toolkit
• Giggle - uses GTK+ toolkit
• git-cola - uses PyQt4
• gitg - GTK+/GNOME clone of GitX
• tig - text mode interface for git, is GUI and pager, uses ncurses
• Gittyup - has a similar layout as GitKraken, but is free and uses Flatpak

Edit: These are the suggestions given in the other answers.

• GitKraken
• SmartGit
• gitg
• rabbitVCS

There are a couple of software which I personally find very easy to use.

• Giggle: I personally use giggle . It is simple and intuitive to use.

  

• Cola Git GUI: I have not used Cola Git , but this does seem promising.

  

Answer 2

Having tested all the above mentioned tools, I have settled with the following tools for managing my Git repositories:

• SmartGit
• RabbitVCS

SmartGit

SmartGit is an easy-to-use graphical user interface for Git with optimized work-flows. SmartGit supports all Git and Mercurial features needed for every-day work in software development projects:

• Local working tree operations
• Status, diff, log
• Push, pull, fetch (for all protocols)
• Tag and branch management
• Merge, cherry-pick, rebase, revert
• Submodule support
• Stash management
• Remotes management

I has also an easy to use wizard to connect you to online repositories like GitHub and BitBucket

RabbitVCS

In contrast, RabbitVCS has a different approach from other tools. Rather than providing an external UI for your git repository, it integrates its self to Nautilus. In fact RabbitVCS is a set of graphical tools written to provide simple and straightforward access to the version control systems you use.

Answer 3

Yes; git has a gui you can run with the git gui command.

If that doesn't work, it means you need to install the GUI for git. You can do this by installing the git-gui package. Or, even better, install the git-all package.

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install git-all

See man git-gui for details. Note that while the manpage is called git-gui, you run this as git gui.

Answer 4

I used gitg for a while before going back to CLI only. For entertainment value, there's gource, which can turn your git history into an animation :)

Answer 5

I am quite partial to smartgit. You can read more about it here It's by far the most complete git client on Linux that I have found. That being said, there is real strength in the command line, and I suggest you learn it well before using a GUI.

Answer 6

Rather than downloading and compiling the tar.gz file from source(http://www.syntevo.com/smartgit/index.html), there is a PPA on launchpad available that allows one to install smartgit using the normal apt-get commands.

From a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+t), enter the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:eugenesan/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install smartgit 

This will install the latest version of smartgit.

• Are PPA's safe to add to my system and what are some "red flags" to watch out for?

Answer 7

I'm on the team that develops GitKraken, so I'm a little biased, but I'd highly recommend you check it out. It's cross-platform so you can use the same tool in Windows, Mac and Linux and it comes with some other unique features including undo/redo, indexed search and a responsive, intuitive design. If GitKraken doesn't work for you, I've also used and had some success with Git Extensions (Windows) and GitHub Desktop (Windows/Mac).

Answer 8

There is also a relatively new (just released months ago) software called GitEye.

It provides a familiar graphical interface as it is based on Eclipse RCP framework. You can use it on Windows and Mac as well, since it runs on java.

Give it a try; it's free.

So far my only complain is that its merge tool is rather limited

Answer 9

ungit seems like a powerful intuitive GUI for git.

Answer 10

I use git extensions - I find it very helpful for what I need it for. Here's a link to getting it running on 12.04

Answer 11

If you are using Emacs (Which is fantastic), then you would find magit a super brilliant option :D

Answer 12

I wouldn't ever call it the best git client but I find it noteworthy that Meld also provides some basic version control functionality although it's main purpose is comparing files and directories:

Citing the feature overview:

• Meld supports many version control systems, including Git, Mercurial, Bazaar and SVN
• Launch file comparisons to check what changes were made, before you commit
• View file versioning statuses
• Simple version control actions are also available (i.e.,commit/update/add/remove/delete files)

Depending on your purpose and workflow it could also be interesting to have a closer look at the version control plugin of your favourite IDE. I used such e.g. in Eclipse, Monodevelop and PyCharm.

Answer 13

The Cola Git is simple but delivers what it promises, and the SmartGit is full of features!