It is around month and a half since Git User's Survey 2009 was started (it was started on 15 July 2009), which is a 3/4 of planned duration time of the survey. So I think this is time for third part partial summary of Git User's Survey 2009. The previous parts can be found at http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/124599 Subject: Git User's Survey 2009 partial summary, part 1 - - announcing survey, participation Message-Id: <200907312246.12134.jnareb@xxxxxxxxx> and http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/126153 Subject: Git User's Survey 2009 partial summary, part 2 - - from first 10 Message-Id: <200908171224.44686.jnareb@xxxxxxxxx> You can see summary of Git User's Survey 2009 responses (and make your own analysis, optionally using provided set of filters) at the following URL: http://www.survs.com/shareResults?survey=2PIMZGU0&rndm=678J66QRA2 http://tinyurl.com/GitSurvey2009Analyze After the survey ends (or earlier, if it is requested) the raw data would be published on GitSurvey2009 page on Git Wiki in CSV and XLS formats (like on http://git.or.cz/giwiki/GitSurvey2008). ........................................................ Total respondents: 3519 First response: Jul 15, 2009 Last response: Sep 01, 2009 (included in this analysis) Open during: 56 days Average time: 44 minutes We have currently (status for 1 September 2009) around 3519 responses, as compared to 3236 individual responses (including 21 responses in 'test' channel) for survey in 2008, 683 individual responses in 2007, and around 117 responses in 2006. 20) Overall, how happy are you with Git? (Choice - Single answer) =========================================== Answer | resp [%] | resp [n] ------------------------------------------- unhappy | 1% | 34 not so happy | 4% | 140 happy | 23% | 758 very happy | 52% | 1696 completely ecstatic | 20% | 650 ----------------------+-------------------- Total respondents | 3278 Skipped this question | 241 =========================================== There were some complaints during planning stage of this year survey that the answers for this question are not symmetric; nevertheless it is set of answers that was used in previous survey(s), and it would help comparing data with previous surveys to keep it as it is now. Most responders are very happy with Git, and this answer seems to be a center of responses. One should take into account that if one is unhappy with Git, it is less likely that one would continue using it (unless other circumstances would force using it, like the project one contributes to using Git as DVCS of choice), thus less likely to be Git user and to participate in this Git User's Survey. There can be bias because it is _Git_ survey; it might be different if it was generic survey about (distributed) version control systems. 21) In your opinion, which areas in Git need improvement? Please state your preference. (Matrix - Rating) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Area in Git | don't need | a little | some | much || Avg. ============================================================================== user-interface | 428 - 14% | 882 - 28% | 1055 - 33% | 707 - 22% || 2.59 documentation | 340 - 11% | 946 - 30% | 1252 - 40% | 551 - 17% || 2.60 performance | 2167 - 69% | 660 - 21% | 174 - 6% | 46 - 1% || 1.33 more features | 1595 - 51% | 1007 - 32% | 360 - 11% | 53 - 2% || 1.55 tools (e.g. GUI) | 681 - 22% | 696 - 22% | 934 - 30% | 758 - 24% || 2.51 i18n[1] | 2184 - 69% | 398 - 13% | 225 - 7% | 89 - 3% || 1.27 ------------------+----------------------------------------------------------- Total respondents | 3155 Skipped | 364 ============================================================================== Footnotes: ~~~~~~~~~~ [1] Originally "localization (translation)", shortened to "i18n" to reduce line length Going by average rating, it is documentation (2.60) and user-interface (2.59), and then tools (2.51) that needs improvements. Areas that needs improvement 'much' are tools (24%), UI (22%) and documentation (17%); the same set, different priority. Areas that needs 'some' improvement are documentation (40%), then UI (33%) and tools (30%). Areas that 'don't need' improvements are localization (translations) and performance, both with around 69%, then 'more features' with 51%. 22) Did you participate in previous Git User's Surveys? (Choice - Multiple answers) ======================================================= Year | resp [%] | resp [n] || in year ------------------------------------------------------- in 2006 | 11% | 88 || 117 in 2007 | 30% | 251 || 683 in 2008 | 97% | 801 || 3236 ----------------------+-------------------------------- Total respondents | 823 Skipped this question | 2696 ======================================================= "In year" column refers to number of replies (number of responses) in the Git User's Survey for given year. The percentage is calculated relative to number of replies in this question, not to the total number of responders. ====================================================== Year | resp | resp || in year | / 3519 | / in year || ------------------------------------------------------ in 2006 | 2.5% | 75.2% || 117 in 2007 | 7.1% | 36.8% || 683 in 2008 | 22.8% | 24.8% || 3236 ====================================================== Without further analysis (and the data that we don't have) we can only assume that 2006 survey (narrowly announced) was answered mainly by hard-core Git users and contributors, which follow Git announcements and participate in surveys. Note that 2008 (previous) and 2009 (this one) surveys were announced in slightly different ways: 2008 was announced on git mailing lists, 2009 was announced on blogs and hosting sites. If you want to try to do further analysis, there are filters for this answers one can use to analyze survey responses. 23) How do you compare the current version with the version from one year ago? (Choice - Single answer) [FYI There is list of changes from year ago in the survey text] =========================================== Answer | resp [%] | resp [n] ------------------------------------------- better | 50% | 1385 no changes | 8% | 228 worse | 0% | 10 cannot say | 42% | 1162 ----------------------+-------------------- Total respondents | 2785 Skipped this question | 734 =========================================== Most people (50%) think that Git improved since year ago; very few (10 in 2785) think it is worse... but almost as many 'cannot say' (42%) if it is better than year ago. If we take 'cannot say' as indication that responder didn't use Git a year ago, and that is the reason they cannot do comparison, it seems that there are many new Git users participating in this survey. 24) How useful have you found the following forms of Git documentation? (Matrix - One answer per row) ====================================================================== Documentation | never used | not useful | somewhat | is useful ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Git Wiki | 1138 - 36% | 135 - 4% | 1174 - 37% | 652 - 21% on-line help | 404 - 13% | 100 - 3% | 1283 - 40% | 1351 - 43% help in git | 249 - 8% | 199 - 6% | 1126 - 36% | 1560 - 49% ------------------+--------------------------------------------------- Total respondents | 3169 Skipped | 350 ====================================================================== Least used form of documentation is Git Wiki (http://git.or.cz/gitwiki) with 36% responders never using it, but those that use it feel that it is somewhat useful to useful. Both help distributed with Git (manpages, Git User's Manual, HOWTOs, etc.) and on-line help (including but not limited to Git Community Book, and tutorials and guides on Git homepage) are almost the same useful, with help included in Git felt to be more useful than on-line help (49% vs 43% is useful, 36% vs 40% only somewhat). 25) Have you tried to get help regarding Git from other people? (Choice - Single answer) This question, and questions following it were meant to be about getting help from other people, rather than trying to find help by self. From the set of "other (please specify)" answers for "help channel" (which include among others many instances of "Google search" or equivalent) it looks like it was not entirely clean. =========================================== Answer | resp [%] | resp [n] ------------------------------------------- Yes | 65% | 2082 No | 35% | 1121 ----------------------+-------------------- Total respondents | 3203 Skipped this question | 316 =========================================== As you can see 2/3 responders tried to get help regarding Git from other people. 26) If yes, did you get these problems resolved quickly and to your liking? (Choice - Single answer) =========================================== Answer | resp [%] | resp [n] ------------------------------------------- Yes | 63% | 1349 No | 6% | 122 Somewhat | 32% | 686 ----------------------+-------------------- Total respondents | 2157 / 2082 Skipped this question | 1362 =========================================== Consistency check: 2082 people answered that they tried to get help about Git from other people, but we have 2157 responses in this question... It looks like we have good community surrounding Git, if 2/3 Git questions are resolved quickly and accurately, and only 6% couldn't get quick and to their liking response. 27) What channel(s) did you use to request help? (Choice - Multiple answers) ============================================================== Channel | resp [%] | resp [n] -------------------------------------------------------------- git mailing list (git@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) | 12% | 261 "Git for Human Beings" Google Group | 2% | 48 IRC (#git) | 31% | 668 IRC (other, e.g. #github) | 10% | 221 request in blog post or on wiki[1] | 8% | 176 asking git guru/colleague | 58% | 1248 project mailing list, or IRC, or forum | 19% | 416 Twitter or other microblogging platform | 12% | 267 instant messaging (IM) like XMPP/Jabber | 19% | 413 StackOverflow[2] | 17% | 367 ........................................|..................... other (please specify) | 7% | 154 -------------------------------------------------------------- Total respondents | 2148 / 2082 Respondents who skipped this question | 1371 ============================================================== Footnotes: ~~~~~~~~~~ [1] Here I mainly meant asking a question on one's blog, and waiting for response in comments, like e.g. http://jjnapiorkowski.vox.com/library/post/migrating-to-git-from-subversion.html or asking on Git Wiki (as if it was help forum), or on Talk page of some other wiki (no example). [2] StackOverflow is a community driven programming-related Q&A site http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/git Most used 'channel' is to simply ask somebody better versed in Git personally (58%), then is #git channel with usually fast real-time response (31%). Git mailing list has only 12% of replies, below (quite new) forums and project mailing lists (19% - wide category), instant messaging (19%), and quite new StackOverflow (17%), and very similar to microblogging platforms such as Twitter or Identi.ca (also 12%). "Git for Human Beings" Google Group is rarely used, with only 2% of responses... As for "other (please specify)" response: * There are some responses ("Internet search", "Google", a book) that show that it was not entirely clear that the question was about asking _other people_ for help regarding Git, not searching for help oneself. * Some responses (e.g. "colleagues") were variant of provided channel. * Some responses were more detailed specification (description) of channel used; examples include "#dri-devel on freenode", "Rick (friend)", "IRC (channel of project using git)", "Rotating my chair and asking", etc. * And there were channels that were not included in the list of provided answers (some because channel is rare, some because I didn't think of such channel): - GitHub mailing list / GitHub Google Group - asking a guy who gave a talk about git at a conference - messages through GitHub - private email - direct email with tutorial author - msysGit mailing list / msysGit Google Group - Server Fault (but Stack Overflow is on list) - Specialists at the work office Perhaps this question should be about all kinds of getting help, not only about requesting (asking for) Git-related help? What do you think? When doing this analysis I have realized that we have survey question about _requesting help_, but we don't have question about _providing help_. Do you participate in Git mailing list? Are you present on #git channel on FreeNode (or other IRC channel) and reply to questions? Or perhaps you are editing Git Wiki (or at least remove spam)? Do you post responses (answers) to questions tagged [git] on Stack Overflow (and Server Fault and Superuser)? Are you considered to be Git guru and/or go-to guy in questions related to Git by your colleagues or/and co-workers? The next question is a bit related, but is only about using specified channels, which can include providing help in given channel, but doesn't need to. 28) Which communication channel(s) do you use? Do you read the mailing list, or watch IRC channel? (Choice - Multiple answers) ============================================================== Channel | resp [%] | resp [n] -------------------------------------------------------------- git@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (main) | 42% | 368 Git for Human Beings (Google Group) | 7% | 64 msysGit | 10% | 89 #git IRC channel | 54% | 473 #github or #gitorious IRC channel | 22% | 188 #revctrl IRC channel | 0% | 4 -------------------------------------------------------------- Total respondents | 868 Respondents who skipped this question | 2651 ============================================================== Note that percentage is relative to the (small) number of replies to this question, not relative to the number of all responders. Among listed channels, most commonly used are #git IRC channel on FreeNode with 54%, and git mailing list (git@vger,kernel.org) with 42%. Third is #github and #gitorious IRC channels together, with 22% or replies to this question. -- Jakub Narebski Git User's Survey will last till 15 September http://tinyurl.comGitSurvey2009 -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe git" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html