FontForge VS git-sizer

• Open Source
  FontForge is an open-source font editor, which means it is free to use, modify, and distribute. This makes it accessible for individuals or organizations with limited budgets.
• Cross-Platform
  FontForge is available for various operating systems including Windows, macOS, and Linux, allowing users to work on their font projects regardless of the platform.
• Extensive Feature Set
  FontForge boasts a wide range of features for font creation and editing, including support for multiple font formats, scripting abilities, and advanced typographic tools.
• Active Community
  As an open-source project, FontForge has an active community of users and developers who contribute to its improvement and provide valuable support and resources.
• Scripting Capabilities
  FontForge supports Python scripting, which allows users to automate repetitive tasks, create custom tools, and extend the functionality of the software.

Possible disadvantages

• Steep Learning Curve
  FontForge can be challenging for beginners due to its complex interface and extensive feature set, requiring a significant time investment to become proficient.
• Less Polished Interface
  Compared to some commercial font editors, FontForge’s user interface may appear less modern and less intuitive, which can be a drawback for users accustomed to more polished software.
• Inconsistent Documentation
  While there is a wealth of information available, the documentation for FontForge can sometimes be outdated or incomplete, making it difficult for users to find the help they need.
• Limited Customer Support
  As an open-source project, FontForge lacks dedicated customer support. Users must rely on community forums and user groups for assistance, which may not always provide timely or comprehensive help.
• Occasional Stability Issues
  Some users have reported encountering bugs and crashes, which can disrupt work and result in lost progress if proper precautions like frequent saving are not taken.

• Comprehensive Repository Analysis
  git-sizer analyzes many different dimensions of a Git repository including commit count, tree size, blob size, history depth, and reference counts, providing a holistic view of repository health and potential scaling issues.
• Easy to Use
  The tool is simple to run with minimal setup—just execute it within a git repository—and it produces clear, human-readable output that highlights potential problem areas without requiring complex configuration.
• Identifies Performance Bottlenecks
  It helps identify specific issues that could degrade Git performance, such as excessively large blobs, deep history, large trees, or too many references, which is valuable before migrating or scaling repositories.
• Open Source and Maintained by GitHub
  Being an official GitHub project, it benefits from credibility, community trust, and ongoing maintenance, and it is well documented with clear explanations of what each metric means.
• Useful for Pre-Migration Checks
  It's particularly helpful for teams migrating repositories to new platforms or consolidating repos, as it flags potential issues that could cause problems during migration or with hosting providers' limits.

Possible disadvantages

• No Automatic Remediation
  git-sizer only identifies and reports issues but does not offer any built-in tools or automated processes to fix problems like large blobs or excessive history depth—users must use separate tools like BFG Repo-Cleaner or git-filter-repo.
• Output Can Be Overwhelming for Beginners
  While detailed, the output includes many metrics and threshold levels that may be confusing for users unfamiliar with Git internals, requiring some learning curve to fully interpret results.
• Limited to Local Analysis
  The tool analyzes a local clone of the repository, so it requires users to have a full local copy of the repo (or at least enough history) to get accurate results, which can be time-consuming for very large repositories.
• No Real-Time Monitoring
  It functions as a one-time analysis tool rather than providing continuous or real-time monitoring of repository health, requiring manual reruns to track changes over time.
• Command-Line Only Interface
  The tool lacks a graphical user interface, which may be less accessible for users who prefer visual dashboards or are less comfortable with command-line tools.

FontForge Master Class Part 1 - Install & Intro

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Tracking FontForge since Mar 2021.

• how to keep github repos small?

  Also there’s a cool project from GitHub you can use to help understand the size of git’s objects in your git repo https://github.com/github/git-sizer. This might help you determine what the best cloning strategy could be. Source: almost 5 years ago