Have you used both?<p>You can commit a subset of changed files in most version control systems, but it isn&#x27;t smart because you didn&#x27;t test that state and it&#x27;s relatively easy to garble files.<p>Not having the index is a very practical difference for users, because it means that you do not get any editable &quot;staging&quot; commits, only commits that will be on the permanent record.