Are Git workflow questions on-topic?

Question

I recently started working part time in our organization's IT department and am working with one other person who has previously been the sole developer on several applications used in the office. We are using Git for version control, but still trying to lock down exactly which branches we're working on and when and how exactly to pull, push, merge, tag, etc.

If a user were to describe what they are trying to accomplish/believe is happening and posted the exact Git commands they are using with annotations about what they are doing in code, would this fall into the scope of Code Review?

I could imagine feedback being suggestions for better workflows or correcting what the questioner thought was happening with certain commands. (Although this would be off-topic?).

Answer 1

(obligatory No answer). Good question, but, no.

git is not a language. It is a version control system. Suggesting the way you use git is on-topic for code review, naturally leads on to:

• the way you use .... your compiler to compile code
• the way you use .... your ssh command to create keys.
• the way you use .... your paragraphs to write text.

If you have a program/script that does this work, then the program is reviewable, but not the process that the program is implementing.

Answer 2

If your question is mainly about how to use Git correctly, then no, it's off-topic.

If your question is about how to improve a program that uses lower-level Git operations to accomplish something innovative, then yes, it's on-topic.

Answer 3

That is a good question. My initial thought was "well, no", but then the more I think of it, the more I think a sequence of commands is not too different from any other script (powershell, batch, you-name-it)...

There's a batchsvn question that was asked, and downvoted, but not closed: seems like there's a way to phrase your question to be on-topic.

If you're not going to be asking what the commands do, and if the commands actually do what they're supposed to be doing, and that the workflow works as intended and you feel it could be improved, then I'd deem your question on-topic.

Let's see what the community thinks :)

Answer 4

I don't believe that processes are on topic on CodeReview, perhaps they would be on another StackExchange site.

However, as soon as you start talking about Bash/Shell/other language scripts, which are always executed in a determined order, then you are talking about programming (scripting), and then I believe it indeed is ontopic.