I was looking for a repository client for a Git repository. The first client I experimented with was TortoiseGit. I love tortoise products. I specifically used tortoiseHg in my last project. However, my experience with tortoiseGit was disastrous. I couldnot make it use the ignore patterns defined in .ignore or in the exclude file. Thus, after messing up with it for a while, I looked for other clients which are free for personal use and I stumpled upon on SmartGit, as you guessed it; It was love at first sight!
SmartGit is lovely, easy to use and has elegant user interface. I was able to install it and started using it in a heart beat.It reads and applies the ignore patterns listed in the .ignore file. However, it doesnot have the contextual menu to access repository commands by right clicking in a folder structure. You have to start the client in order to open the local repository to do your staging, commiting and other related stuff.
You can download and evaluate SmartGit here
Cheers!
