We analyze the cross-over of a homogeneous one-dimensional Bose gas from the ideal gas into the dense quasi-condensate phase. We review a number of mean-field theories, perturbative or self-consistent, and provide accurate evaluations of equation of state, density fluctuations, and correlation functions. A smooth crossover is reproduced by classical-field simulations based on the stochastic Gross-Pitaevskii equation, and the Yang-Yang solution to the one-dimensional Bose gas.