Setting Up Version Control in Wing

Wing relies on being able to run the command line executable, such as hg, git, or p4 for each version control system. These must be installed first, if you don't already have them.

You will also need to check out a repository, or add your files to a new repository, according to the instructions for the VCS that you are using. This must be done outside of Wing, since the version control integration is not designed to create repositories or initially check out files from a VCS.

Authentication

When a version control command run with OpenSSH or Git needs an SSH key passphrase or HTTPS credentials, Wing prompts for them. Entered passwords are held only in memory, for as long as the Version Control > Password Cache Duration preference sets. To use an external credential manager instead, uncheck the Version Control > Prompt for Passwords preference.

SSH key passphrases are shared with remote hosts and peers so a key's passphrase entered for one of them is not asked for again by the others. Each passphrase prompt offers the same choice of how long to keep it, which also sets the Password Cache Duration preference. Passwords are stored for the repository they were entered for, and forgotten when you switch projects. Wing forgets a stored passphrase or password when a command's output shows the server refused it, and keeps it when a command fails for any other reason. Clear Stored Passwords in the version control tool's options menu clears every stored password and key passphrase, including those entered for remote hosts. See Setting up SSH for Remote Development for details.

Wing cannot prompt for passwords when the VCS uses PuTTY's plink for SSH, so its keys must be loaded into PuTTY's pageant instead. On Windows, when a command fails because plink has no key and pageant.exe can be found, the page that ran the command offers Start Pageant and Retry. Wing starts pageant with the key named by the host's PuTTY saved session or else PuTTY's Default Settings, or the only .ppk file in ~/.ssh. If none is found, Wing asks you to choose a key file. pageant prompts for the key's passphrase, and the command runs again once the key is loaded. Otherwise, the command's output ends with a hint to start pageant, or to set Mercurial's ui.ssh or Git's core.sshCommand to OpenSSH so that Wing can prompt for passwords.

Refer to the documentation for each version control system to set up the appropriate authentication method. If you've never set up SSH before, see also SSH Setup Details.

Activating Version Control in Wing

Once you have your files added to version control, you can set them up in Wing simply by adding directories and files to your Wing project, using the items in the Project menu. The relevant version control menus should appear in the menu bar.

Which VCSs will be considered for projects can be controlled in the Version Control preferences group, with the Active preference under each version control system's preferences page. This supports entirely disabling a version control system, enabling it only if used in the project, or setting it as always active, so its menu and tool will always be available.

Trouble-Shooting

To diagnose problems with the version control integration, enable Show Console in the VCS tool's Options menu (the ⋯ button). This adds a tab to the tool that displays the commands that are executed and their output.

In some cases you may need to point Wing to the executable for your VCS using the Executable preference on the VCS's page, under the Version Control preferences area. This should be set to the full path to the command line executable and not the executable for GUIs like TortoiseHg.