In RStudio Desktop, under the Git tab, there seem only to be the options to Commit, Pull, Push, etc.
These are indeed the most common actions, from my limited experience on exploring how to use Git from within RStudio.
However, if I wanted to revert back to an earlier commit and make it the new 'head', then I have to use the Terminal and use a command such as 'git reset --soft [SHA code]'
Firstly, is this need to use the Terminal correct, or have I missed something within RStudio?
Nearly all of the online guides that I have found that reference RStudio and Git stop their commentary short of when you want to back-track, create branches, etc.
It seems to me that only the most basic commands are available from within RStudio's UI and the more complex commands require Terminal usage.
If this is a true statement, then why is this?
And, are there any plans to add to the options already natively available within the RStudio IDE?
It would be interesting to get an official answer from Posit/RStudio developers, here is my personal understanding as a basic user.
Yes, the git functionality available in RStudio is pretty limited, and this is by design, and unlikely to be expanded in the near future. The reason is a 80%/20% tradeoff: current RStudio shortcuts for the simple, common operations may cover 80 % of daily use cases, but the last 20 % would take a lot more effort to implement. And other people have already put in the effort to create such clients (see below), so really you're better off using a well thought git client, than wait for RStudio to struggle to re-implement every single functionality.
I would also add, as someone who uses R along with other languages, it's useful to be able to use git without relying on RStudio.
See the recommendations in happy git with R (which is written by Jenny Bryan, a Posit employee, and so may at least partially reflect the mindset of the company).