[NFBCS] Help with GIT editors

Wed Sep 3 14:11:21 UTC 2025

Hi, Aaron,

I’ve installed VS Code and found a book on Bookshare to learn it. I also Googled using VS Code with JAWS and I’m seeing results that say JAWS scripts need to be installed. Is this the case, and how safe is doing so?

Also, I’ve worked with Visual Studio .net for years and I see that it, too, can work with GIT. Which of the two is preferable, if either?

Finally, since I’m a newbie with GIT, I was using Windows Command Line and GIT Bash to enter commands to learn the syntax. All of this is a bit overwhelming, and I could use some advice on what a good “step 1” is.

Thanks,

   Ryan

From: NFBCS <nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Aaron Cannon via NFBCS
Sent: Friday, August 29, 2025 4:42 PM
To: NFB in Computer Science Mailing List <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Aaron Cannon <cannona at fireantproductions.com>
Subject: Re: [NFBCS] Help with GIT editors

Yes, Elijah is correct. VSCode should be in your path, so you can just do code, but make sure you pass the --wait flag, or git may not know when you're done editing the file. Then when done, save the file and close the window so Git will know you're done.

To answer a different question you asked, yes, it's always worth learning VSCode! It is a game changer.

Aaron

On Fri, Aug 29, 2025 at 14:26 Elijah Massey via NFBCS <nfbcs at nfbnet.org <mailto:nfbcs at nfbnet.org> > wrote:

The way GIT commit editing works is Git launches an external editor program to edit the message; Git doesn't have its own editor. In your case its probably launching vi or nano, since from the behavior you described its launching a terminal editor. Try running "git config --global "core.editor" notepad --wait", and then make a commit. It should open Notepad and let you type a commit message there; instead of using vi or nanno as its editor, Git will use Notepad. If VS Code is in your PATH environment variable, then using "code" instead of "notepad" will also work, although I'm not sure if VS Code is added to PATH by default on Windows.

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 29, 2025, at 14:14, Ryan Stevens via NFBCS <nfbcs at nfbnet.org <mailto:nfbcs at nfbnet.org> > wrote:

Hello, Jim,

Thanks for your response. My main concern is being able to place comments in the commit editor (and possibly the revert editor) in a terminal window. I found a keyboard short cut to cleanly enter the comment (Alt-G, C), but I’m still stuck trying to save it and return to the command line. Are you aware of any, and would switching to VSCode simplify the process? Thanks.

From: NFBCS <nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org <mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org> > On Behalf Of Jim Bauer via NFBCS
Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2025 3:53 PM
To: nfbcs at nfbnet.org <mailto:nfbcs at nfbnet.org> 
Cc: Jim Bauer <holdsworthfan at eml.cc <mailto:holdsworthfan at eml.cc> >
Subject: Re: [NFBCS] Help with GIT editors

You can change the git editor with the "core.editor" config option. For example, "git config --global core.editor code --wait" sets vscode as the default git editor everywhere.

"git status" shows tracked/modified/etc. files in the repo.

Though old, the Git book has helped me:

https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2

On 8/28/2025 8:36 AM, Ryan Stevens via NFBCS wrote:

Hello,

My company is moving to GIT as our source control after years on SourceGear Vault. I have been learning and working with GIT on Windows Command Line and GIT Bash relatively easily, but there are a couple of snags. First, committing and reverting code require a message/description, and trying to enter them doesn’t seem to be working properly, and I get stuck in the commit editor. I do use the -m parameter in the commit command to get around this, but I don’t always remember to do so. For revert, it looks like I need to use the --no-commit parameter, then run a commit -m. Second, the training books point out that filenames appear in different colors based on their status, and I have no idea how to check that in the terminal window. I use the latest version of JAWS, and I’m wondering if there are keyboard shortcuts for these issues. Alternatively, are there other GIT editors that are accessible and handle these problems?

Thanks and take care,

Ryan Stevens

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