Git for Windows vs gitk

By using the CLI, one is given access to every single git function available, thus providing complete flexibility in managing git.

Git for Windows includes a command-line interface in the form of Git BASH, a graphical interface in the form of Git GUI and a context menu interface.

Git BASH offers the complete power of git, Git GUI aims to cover all git functionality (though it falls a bit short) in a graphical way and the context menu enables quick access to simple commands.

Since most devs invoke git via CLI, there's a higher chance of getting an answer to a CLI-based git problem than that which is GUI-based.

It's possible to generate an RSA key pair using Git BASH. Instructions on how to do so can be found here.

By using the git from the command line, it's possible to learn how it functions and how best to get the desired result.

Even a visual representation of various branches and how they're merged is possible.

To visualize history:

git log --graph

When using gitk to scan a long list of changes, the user is able to see more of the list without pagination, as there is no huge buffer of whitespace between each entry.

Since it's pretty minimalistic and does not contain a lot of features (for example, it can't commit), it's quite fast.

Gitk is a free and open source tool. It forms part of the official git suite.

Gitk is a part of the git package, so no additional application is necessary: it is developed right alongside git itself.