GitDependencies.exe vs git-lfs

Development Programming & Scripting
1

GitHub promoted git-lfs feature for storing large binary files in Git repository (see https://git-lfs.github.com/).

Have you considered the possibility of using git-lfs instead GitDependencies.exe?

Props of GitDependencies.exe:

  1. It’s already used by Epic Games;
  2. It’s can ignore some data (for example don’t download Linux binaries on Windows);

Props of git-lfs:

  1. Native support on GitHub;
  2. More user-friendly git integration (git log, git cleanup etc).
2

Hi ,

I will check and see what our plans are in this regard and get back to you. I am not sure if we have investigated git-lfs yet to see if it would do what we need.

3

Hi ,

We had looked into using the git-lfs service when it was first available, but it had some significant problems in the initial release, in particular with regard to Windows. We may look into it again at some point, but it is not currently a priority.

4

Hi ,
Any Epic Games will take another look at this now that Git LFS 1.0 release has come and gone? (currently on 1.1.1 - Releases · git-lfs/git-lfs · GitHub).

Cheers,
Benjamin

5

We use git-lfs (for maps only) and GitDependencies.exe (for editor binaries) on our project.

Show-stopper issues for using git-lfs instead of GitDependencies.exe:

6

Hi Benjamin,

We do not currently have the resources available to look into git-lfs right now. We may take another look at the service in the future, but it would likely be a non-trivial task to move over to using that instead of the GitDependencies.exe file.

7

Some time passed and now git-lfs looks much better:

Also GitHub and GitLab implement Git LFS server out of box.

8

Hi ,

We like what we see currently with regards to Git-LFS. Unfortunately, due to the way that we use GitHub, Git-LFS would be prohibitively expensive to use as a means to provide the Engine dependencies.

9

Um is this even expensive anymore since this was asked before Fortnite came out?