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New and Noteworthy 5.13

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Matthias Sohn edited this page Dec 5, 2023 · 1 revision

EGit

Blame

Git blame information shown in an editor open on a file from the git working tree of a git repository is updated now whenever the HEAD of that repository changes, for instance, when a new branch is checked out, or when the currently shown file is edited, saved, and then committed. The git blame information can be switched on via the Show Revision Information command available in the context menu of the editor.

Comparisons

EGit 5.13 brings some improvements in the compare editor of Eclipse, and some new commands to compare commits against the working tree.

Compare Editor

When a comparison is opened on several files, the Compare Editor of Eclipse shows a directory view at the top. EGit 5.13 customizes this view to show a compact tree in which a single folder node is shown for a whole folder hierarchy when there is nothing interesting to show for intermediary folders:

This directory viewer in the Eclipse Compare Editor is typically fairly small (the user can enlarge it, though), and a compact tree is in many cases easier to navigate.

In addition, the view gets a toolbar with operations to expand or collapse all directories shown in the view. The context menu has an Expand All command that fully expands only the selected folders.

EGit 5.13 also customizes the view's context menu.

Newly, the Show In sub-menu is also available in this context menu in the Commit Editor. It can be used to show the selected items in other views.

Additionally, there is a new Compare with Each Other command that is active when exactly two files are selected in the directory viewer. It opens a comparison between the two selected files.

This is especially useful when files have been renamed, but the Compare Editor shows them as one file having been added and the other having been deleted. To get a comparison of the renamed file, select the added and the deleted file and choose Compare with Each Other.

New Comparison Commands

In the Git Repositories View, there's a new command to compare a branch, tag, or other reference directly with the working tree.

Conversely, when files or directories are selected in the Git Repositories View, there's a new sub-menu Compare With to compare the working tree against an arbitrary branch, tag, or commit.

Finally, Compare With Working Tree is now also enabled in the Git History View when several files are selected. Previously this command was enabled only when a single file was selected.

API

EGit 5.13 adds new API in the org.eclipse.egit.core bundle to give access to its credentials store. EGit by default uses the Eclipse Secure Storage to store log-in credentials such as user names and passwords (or in the case of Github, personal access tokens (PATs)) or passphrases for encrypted SSH keys. Newly, this credentials store is accessible and even customizeable via the OSGi service mechanism. The implementation has been split into a storage back-end service and a UI service, and EGit provides default service implementations for both with the default service ranking. Third-party code can install its own implementations by providing services with a higher ranking.

There are two new OSGi service interfaces in bundle org.eclipse.egit.core:

  • org.eclipse.egit.core.credentials.CredentialsStore is the service interface for the storage back-end. EGit Core provides a default service implementation based on the Eclipse Secure Storage.
  • org.eclipse.egit.core.credentials.CredentialsUI is the UI service interface. EGit UI (bundle org.eclipse.egit.ui) provides a default service implementation, prompting the user for passwords or passphrases via dialogs.

Other Changes

EGit 5.13 includes some less noticeable improvements in the UI, plus a number of bug fixes. The complete list of new features and bug fixes is available in the release notes.

Contributors

The following 5 developers worked on this release:

Andrey Loskutov, Matthias Sohn, Max Hohenegger, Mickael Istria, Thomas Wolf

Video

You can see most of the UI changes in action in the Eclipse 2021-09 Java IDE Improvements video.

Known Issues

  • SSH: Bug 577545: A bug in the SSH library used by EGit and JGit since 5.13.0, Apache MINA sshd 2.7.0, may cause SSH authentication to fail if first an RSA key is tried, which the server rejects, and then the correct key of a different type (EcDSA or ed25519) is tried.
    • Affected: EGit 5.13.x and 6.0.x
    • Remedies:
      • If you are using Java 11 and Eclipse 2020-09 or newer: update to EGit nightly via its update site. (Since EGit 6.0, EGit requires at the minimum Java 11 and Eclipse 2020-09.)
      • Otherwise:
        • Specify the exact key to use in ~/.ssh/config using the IdentityFile and IdentitiesOnly yes settings for the host entry of a host where the problem occurs.
        • Or if you use default SSH keys, for instance via the "Private keys" setting at Preferences→General→Network Connections→SSH2 in Eclipse, place id_rsa last in the list.
        • Or use an external SSH executable by setting the GIT_SSH environment variable.

See Also

See also the new features in JGit for additional information.

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