GRIT - A rust re-implementation of git.
After several years as a software developer on a large, long-lived desktop application, I found myself falling behind on modern skills and knowledge. As a C++ developer, I am interested in Rust as a language due to its promises of speed, security, and efficiency. It is also consistently rated the most loved language on Stack Overflow.
At work, we unfortunately still do not use git. I use it on my own time for my own projects, but one person committing and branching does not cause the scenarios I expect to see at my job once we fully commit to hundreds of developers in the system. I also don't fully understand the capabilities git offers. What better way to learn what some software is capable of doing, than by reimplementing all those features yourself?
The goal of the code of this project is to produce a software suite that fulfills the git command line experience. Users should be able to, from within a compatible git-like repository, replace most git commands with grit, and it should just work. At this point in time I am just one person. I make no guarantees to the safety of this software - use at your own peril. Git has had a multitude of security attacks against it, as I am replicating the source code to the best of my abilities, I will likely be implementing the patches to those attacks as well, but again, no guarantees. Also, no guarantees that I do not introduce my own vulnerabilities by mistake.
I am selecting git v2.35.3, for an important reason. It was the latest published release before I wrote this page. Similarly, I am using rust v1.60.0, for the exact same reason. I expect the rust compiler version will change throughout the project - more due to me idly running rustup update than feature hunting. The git version is much more rigid - I don't want to have a moving target to code towards. I might target pulling in specific security vulnerabilities, should I ever get to the point they would exist in the code base, but that's a future conversation.
I don't yet know how I'm going to approach this as a whole. This will be a learning experience for us all.
As described at the git repository on github, git's name varies depending on your mood. Grit follows the same naming philosophy - whatever fits your current mood. As I write this, grit matches the definition given to it by Merriam-Webster:
firmness of mind or spirit : unyielding courage in the face of hardship or danger
As I set out on this experiment, I know this won't be a quick or easy project. But I know ultimately it can be a fulfilling one. And who knows what it might become in the future?
Also grit sounds better than rgit, and I wanted to get an r in the name.