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Fork

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126
SourceTree

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727
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Fork vs SourceTree: What are the differences?

Fork and SourceTree are both popular tools used in software development for managing repositories. However, there are some key differences between the two.

  1. Collaboration: Fork enables developers to create a copy of a repository and work on it independently, while SourceTree allows developers to collaborate by providing features like push, pull, and branch management, making it easier to work as a team.

  2. Platform Compatibility: Fork is available on both Windows and macOS, providing a flexible option for developers. On the other hand, SourceTree is primarily designed for macOS, and the Windows version may not have all the features available on the macOS version.

  3. User Interface: Fork offers a visually pleasing and intuitive user interface, making it easy for developers to navigate and perform tasks. SourceTree, on the other hand, has a more complex user interface with a wide range of features, which might be overwhelming for beginners.

  4. Integration with Hosting Services: Fork provides seamless integration with popular hosting services like GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket, allowing developers to easily clone, commit, and push changes to remote repositories. SourceTree also integrates with these hosting services but may require additional configuration for smooth synchronization.

  5. Advanced Features: SourceTree offers advanced features such as interactive rebasing, cherry-picking, and stashing, which allow developers to have more control over their version control workflow. Fork, on the other hand, focuses on providing a simple and streamlined experience for developers, keeping the feature set minimalistic.

  6. Command Line Interface: While both Fork and SourceTree have graphical user interfaces, SourceTree also allows developers to use the command line interface for executing Git commands directly. This feature can be helpful for more experienced developers who prefer the command line over the graphical interface.

In summary, Fork prioritizes beginner-friendly collaboration and seamless hosting integration, while SourceTree excels in advanced features and platform flexibility. Choose Fork for a simple, intuitive workflow and easy collaboration, or SourceTree for granular control and powerful command-line capabilities.

Decisions about Fork and SourceTree

I explored many Git Desktop tools for the Mac and my final decision was to use Fork. What I love about for that it contains three features, I like about a Git Client tool.

It allows * to handle day to day git operations (least important for me as I am cli junkie) * it helps to investigate the history * most important of all, it has a repo manager which many other tools are missing.

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Pros of Fork
Pros of SourceTree
  • 19
    One of the easiest and fastest git GUIs
  • 14
    Nice UX
  • 13
    Does the job way better than others
  • 13
    Fast, Great support, Does-it-all, blazing fast
  • 11
    Dark theme
  • 9
    Intuitive interactive rebase and conflict resolution UI
  • 9
    Gitflow support
  • 7
    Excellent commit history tree view
  • 5
    This even looks the same as SourceTree
  • 4
    Repository Manager
  • 3
    Built-in developer feedback
  • 3
    Countless quality of life features
  • 2
    Github Notifications
  • 2
    Not buggy, works smoothly
  • 2
    Keyaboard-only
  • 2
    Visual branch history
  • 2
    Reflog support
  • 1
    Git ammend
  • 1
    Smart 'Open in' menu; e.g. explorer, bit, giithub .
  • 1
    Interactive rebase window
  • 1
    Native application
  • 1
    Intuitive merge conflict resolution
  • 1
    Unique Activity Manager shows current/past operations
  • 205
    Visual history and branch view
  • 164
    Beautiful UI
  • 134
    Easy repository browsing
  • 87
    Gitflow support
  • 75
    Interactive stage or discard by hunks or lines
  • 22
    Great branch visualization
  • 18
    Ui/ux and user-friendliness
  • 8
    Best Git Client UI/Features
  • 7
    Search commit messages
  • 5
    Available for Windows and macOS
  • 1
    Log only one file
  • 1
    Search file content

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Cons of Fork
Cons of SourceTree
  • 2
    Poorly written license
  • 1
    Stability is fragile when looking deeply into history
  • 1
    Merges that require interactive user decision
  • 12
    Crashes often
  • 8
    So many bugs
  • 7
    Fetching is slow sometimes
  • 5
    No dark theme (Windows)
  • 5
    Extremely slow
  • 5
    Very unstable
  • 4
    Can't select text in diff (windows)
  • 3
    Freezes quite frequently
  • 3
    Can't scale window from top corners
  • 2
    UI blinking
  • 2
    Windows version worse than mac version
  • 2
    Installs to AppData folder (windows)
  • 2
    Diff makes tab indentation look like spaces
  • 2
    Windows and Mac versions are very different
  • 2
    Diff appears as if space indented even if its tabs
  • 2
    Doesn't have an option for git init
  • 2
    Useless for merge conflict resolution
  • 2
    Doesn't differentiate submodules from parent repos
  • 2
    Requires bitbucket account
  • 1
    Generally hard to like
  • 1
    No reflog support
  • 1
    Bases binary check on filesize
  • 1
    Can't add remotes by right clicking remotes (windows)

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What is Fork?

Manage your repositories without leaving the application. Organize the repositores into categories. Fork's Diff Viewer provides a clear view to spot the changes in your source code quickly.

What is SourceTree?

Use the full capability of Git and Mercurial in the SourceTree desktop app. Manage all your repositories, hosted or local, through SourceTree's simple interface.

Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!

What companies use Fork?
What companies use SourceTree?
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What tools integrate with Fork?
What tools integrate with SourceTree?

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What are some alternatives to Fork and SourceTree?
JavaScript
JavaScript is most known as the scripting language for Web pages, but used in many non-browser environments as well such as node.js or Apache CouchDB. It is a prototype-based, multi-paradigm scripting language that is dynamic,and supports object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles.
Git
Git is a free and open source distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency.
GitHub
GitHub is the best place to share code with friends, co-workers, classmates, and complete strangers. Over three million people use GitHub to build amazing things together.
Python
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jQuery
jQuery is a cross-platform JavaScript library designed to simplify the client-side scripting of HTML.
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