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Overview
Comment:Replaced brief footnote in fossil-v-git doc explaining why we use JavaScript (sparingly) with a reference to the new javascript.md doc, which explains this much more fully.
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SHA3-256: 21c7f1f8a3b971c84f519b4c5c9db8784b0131b50bde824a21a31c90d4665184
User & Date: wyoung 2019-10-21 01:53:28.211
Context
2019-10-21
02:40
Updated the discussion of SHA-3 support in Fossil within the fossil-v-git.wiki doc now that Fossil 2.10 is out. Basically, it changes the tense on all SHA-1 text to past tense. ... (check-in: d887a6d7 user: wyoung tags: trunk)
01:53
Replaced brief footnote in fossil-v-git doc explaining why we use JavaScript (sparingly) with a reference to the new javascript.md doc, which explains this much more fully. ... (check-in: 21c7f1f8 user: wyoung tags: trunk)
2019-10-16
17:44
Improved documentation for the --cherrypick and --backout options of the "fossil merge" command. ... (check-in: 29a383e4 user: drh tags: trunk)
Changes
Unified Diff Ignore Whitespace Patch
Changes to www/fossil-v-git.wiki.
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Over half of the C code in Fossil is actually an embedded copy of the
current version of SQLite. Much of what is Fossil-specific after you set
SQLite itself aside is SQL code calling into SQLite. The number of lines
of SQL code in Fossil isn't large by percentage, but since SQL is such
an expressive, declarative language, it has an outsized contribution to
Fossil's user-visible functionality.

Fossil isn't entirely C and SQL code. Its web UI uses JavaScript where

necessary.⁵ The server-side
UI scripting uses a custom minimal
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tcl|Tcl] dialect called
[https://www.fossil-scm.org/xfer/doc/trunk/www/th1.md|TH1], which is
embedded into Fossil itself. Fossil's build system and test suite are
largely based on Tcl. All of this is quite portable.

About half of Git's code is POSIX C, and about a third is POSIX shell
code. This is largely why the so-called "Git for Windows" distributions
(both [https://git-scm.com/download/win|first-party] and
[https://gitforwindows.org/|third-party]) are actually an
[http://mingw.org/wiki/msys|MSYS POSIX portability environment] bundled
with all of the Git stuff, because it would be too painful to port Git
natively to Windows. Git is a foreign citizen on Windows, speaking to it
only through a translator.

While Fossil does lean toward POSIX norms when given a choice — LF-only
line endings are treated as first-class citizens over CR+LF, for example
— the Windows build of Fossil is truly native.

The third-party extensions to Git tend to follow this same pattern.
[http://mingw.org/wiki/msys|GitLab isn't portable to Windows at all],







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Over half of the C code in Fossil is actually an embedded copy of the
current version of SQLite. Much of what is Fossil-specific after you set
SQLite itself aside is SQL code calling into SQLite. The number of lines
of SQL code in Fossil isn't large by percentage, but since SQL is such
an expressive, declarative language, it has an outsized contribution to
Fossil's user-visible functionality.

Fossil isn't entirely C and SQL code. Its web UI [./javascript.md |
uses JavaScript where
necessary]. The server-side
UI scripting uses a custom minimal
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tcl|Tcl] dialect called
[https://www.fossil-scm.org/xfer/doc/trunk/www/th1.md|TH1], which is
embedded into Fossil itself. Fossil's build system and test suite are
largely based on Tcl. All of this is quite portable.

About half of Git's code is POSIX C, and about a third is POSIX shell
code. This is largely why the so-called "Git for Windows" distributions
(both [https://git-scm.com/download/win|first-party] and
[https://gitforwindows.org/|third-party]) are actually an
[http://mingw.org/wiki/msys|MSYS POSIX portability environment] bundled
with all of the Git stuff, because it would be too painful to port Git
natively to Windows. Git is a foreign citizen on Windows, speaking to it
only through a translator.

While Fossil does lean toward POSIX norms when given a choice — LF-only
line endings are treated as first-class citizens over CR+LF, for example
— the Windows build of Fossil is truly native.

The third-party extensions to Git tend to follow this same pattern.
[http://mingw.org/wiki/msys|GitLab isn't portable to Windows at all],
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    <li><p><b>No easy drive-by contributions:</b> Git
    [https://www.git-scm.com/docs/git-request-pull|pull requests] offer
    a low-friction path to accepting
    [https://www.jonobacon.com/2012/07/25/building-strong-community-structural-integrity/|drive-by
    contributions]. Fossil's closest equivalent is its unique
    [/help?cmd=bundle|bundle] feature, which requires higher engagement
    than firing off a PR. This difference comes directly from the
    initial designed purpose for each tool: the SQLite project doesn't
    accept outside contributions from previously-unknown developers, but
    the Linux kernel does.</p></li>

    <li><p><b>No rebasing:</b> When your local repo clone syncs changes
    up to its parent, those changes are sent exactly as they were
    committed locally. [#history|There is no rebasing mechanism in







|







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    <li><p><b>No easy drive-by contributions:</b> Git
    [https://www.git-scm.com/docs/git-request-pull|pull requests] offer
    a low-friction path to accepting
    [https://www.jonobacon.com/2012/07/25/building-strong-community-structural-integrity/|drive-by
    contributions]. Fossil's closest equivalent is its unique
    [/help?cmd=bundle|bundle] feature, which requires higher engagement
    than firing off a PR. This difference comes directly from the
    initial designed purpose for each tool: the SQLite project doesn't
    accept outside contributions from previously-unknown developers, but
    the Linux kernel does.</p></li>

    <li><p><b>No rebasing:</b> When your local repo clone syncs changes
    up to its parent, those changes are sent exactly as they were
    committed locally. [#history|There is no rebasing mechanism in
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    requirements among Digital Ocean's offerings currently costs
    $40/month.

    <li><p>This means you can give up waiting for Fossil to be ported to
    the PDP-11, but we remain hopeful that someone may eventually port
    it to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z/OS|z/OS].

    <li><p>We try to keep use of Javascript to a minimum in the web UI,
    and we always try to provide sensible fall-backs for those that run
    their browsers with Javascript disabled. Some features of the web UI
    simply won't run without Javascript, but the UI behavior does
    degrade gracefully.

    <li><p>"Why is there all this Tcl in and around Fossil?" you may
    ask. It is because D. Richard Hipp is a long-time Tcl user and
    contributor. SQLite started out as an embedded database for Tcl
    specifically. ([https://sqlite.org/tclsqlite.html | [Reference]])
    When he then created Fossil to manage the development of SQLite, it
    was natural for him to use Tcl-based tools for its scripting, build
    system, test system, etc. It came full circle in 2011 when







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<
<







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    requirements among Digital Ocean's offerings currently costs
    $40/month.

    <li><p>This means you can give up waiting for Fossil to be ported to
    the PDP-11, but we remain hopeful that someone may eventually port
    it to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z/OS|z/OS].







    <li><p>"Why is there all this Tcl in and around Fossil?" you may
    ask. It is because D. Richard Hipp is a long-time Tcl user and
    contributor. SQLite started out as an embedded database for Tcl
    specifically. ([https://sqlite.org/tclsqlite.html | [Reference]])
    When he then created Fossil to manage the development of SQLite, it
    was natural for him to use Tcl-based tools for its scripting, build
    system, test system, etc. It came full circle in 2011 when