Re: multi-project repos (was Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts)

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From: Carl Worth
Date: Thursday, November 16, 2006 - 6:08 pm

On Thu, 16 Nov 2006 16:49:29 -0800 (PST), Linus Torvalds wrote:

Older in git's history as it developed is not a good match for more
fundamental in the concepts that git makes available today.


I for one am totally unsatisfied with this approach.

Here's an operations I'd like to be able to do:

	Given a (URL, branch) pair I'd like I'd like to be able to
	investigate that code, (say with the fancy new "read-only
	branch" concept we've been talking about).

What are my options for this operation? What might a new user's
reaction to them be?

a) git fetch URL branch
   git checkout FETCH_HEAD

   This is really ugly. A name like "FETCH_HEAD" is something a user
   should really never have to type. It's hideously hard to type and
   has no natural discoverability. Yuck, yuck, yuck.

b) vi .git/remotes/something
   git fetch something
   git checkout branch

   Also yuck. I hope it's obvious that having to edit a configuration
   for this simple operation is a non-starter.

c) git fetch URL branch:local-branch
   git checkout local-branch

   We're getting close to the desired functionality now, but the UI
   makes users cringe? "What's that : for?" Why do I need another
   name?" etc. Linus, you yourself said this is a form that users
   should generally avoid.

d) git fetch URL branch:branch
   git checkout branch

   One step closer. But there's still that goofy extra ':' and a
   doubled name in the first command. "Why is that there? Git sure is
   weird...".

What I think this operation should look like is:

	git fetch URL branch
	git checkout branch

And the fetch should just complain if there's a name clash. Or better,
the fetch should tuck the fetched branch into its own URL-specific
namespace and then the checkout command can kindly prompt if there is
any ambiguity:

	Which "branch" do you want?
		local/branch
		remote-url/branch

or whatever.

See? That's what reasonable UI should look like.

Please feel free to keep using vestiges like FETCH_HEAD as much as you
like, but please don't recommend documenting them better as a solution
for UI warts in git. (If you would only look at these warts closer,
you'd see they have some lovely locks of hair on them.)

-Carl
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Messages in current thread:
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Jakub Narebski, (Tue Nov 14, 2:30 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Nicolas Pitre, (Tue Nov 14, 2:34 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Junio C Hamano, (Tue Nov 14, 3:56 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Nicolas Pitre, (Tue Nov 14, 6:48 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Junio C Hamano, (Tue Nov 14, 7:10 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Michael K. Edwards, (Tue Nov 14, 7:27 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Nicolas Pitre, (Tue Nov 14, 9:20 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Junio C Hamano, (Tue Nov 14, 9:58 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Linus Torvalds, (Wed Nov 15, 11:03 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Nicolas Pitre, (Wed Nov 15, 11:43 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Shawn Pearce, (Wed Nov 15, 11:49 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Andy Parkins, (Wed Nov 15, 11:58 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Marko Macek, (Wed Nov 15, 12:05 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Linus Torvalds, (Wed Nov 15, 12:18 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Junio C Hamano, (Wed Nov 15, 12:32 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Michael K. Edwards, (Wed Nov 15, 12:39 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Linus Torvalds, (Wed Nov 15, 1:09 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Petr Baudis, (Wed Nov 15, 1:12 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Nicolas Pitre, (Wed Nov 15, 1:21 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Nicolas Pitre, (Wed Nov 15, 1:26 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Linus Torvalds, (Wed Nov 15, 1:40 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Junio C Hamano, (Wed Nov 15, 1:41 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Linus Torvalds, (Wed Nov 15, 1:50 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Carl Worth, (Wed Nov 15, 2:08 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Nicolas Pitre, (Wed Nov 15, 2:18 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Junio C Hamano, (Wed Nov 15, 2:31 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Nicolas Pitre, (Wed Nov 15, 2:40 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Linus Torvalds, (Wed Nov 15, 2:45 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Junio C Hamano, (Wed Nov 15, 2:52 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Nicolas Pitre, (Wed Nov 15, 2:59 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Shawn Pearce, (Wed Nov 15, 3:07 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Sean, (Wed Nov 15, 3:28 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Carl Worth, (Wed Nov 15, 3:52 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Shawn Pearce, (Wed Nov 15, 4:02 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Sean, (Wed Nov 15, 4:07 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Linus Torvalds, (Wed Nov 15, 4:33 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Nicolas Pitre, (Wed Nov 15, 5:08 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Theodore Tso, (Wed Nov 15, 6:14 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Han-Wen Nienhuys, (Wed Nov 15, 6:20 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Junio C Hamano, (Wed Nov 15, 7:03 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Han-Wen Nienhuys, (Wed Nov 15, 7:30 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Michael K. Edwards, (Wed Nov 15, 8:02 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Linus Torvalds, (Wed Nov 15, 8:07 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Linus Torvalds, (Wed Nov 15, 8:12 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Junio C Hamano, (Wed Nov 15, 8:27 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Junio C Hamano, (Wed Nov 15, 8:35 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Nicolas Pitre, (Wed Nov 15, 8:43 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Junio C Hamano, (Wed Nov 15, 9:07 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Junio C Hamano, (Wed Nov 15, 9:21 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Theodore Tso, (Wed Nov 15, 9:26 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Petr Baudis, (Wed Nov 15, 9:30 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Marko Macek, (Wed Nov 15, 11:07 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Han-Wen Nienhuys, (Thu Nov 16, 3:45 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Junio C Hamano, (Thu Nov 16, 4:11 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Alexandre Julliard, (Thu Nov 16, 4:34 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Andreas Ericsson, (Thu Nov 16, 4:35 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Junio C Hamano, (Thu Nov 16, 4:47 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Andreas Ericsson, (Thu Nov 16, 4:50 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Han-Wen Nienhuys, (Thu Nov 16, 6:03 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Han-Wen Nienhuys, (Thu Nov 16, 6:11 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Petr Baudis, (Thu Nov 16, 7:01 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Alexandre Julliard, (Thu Nov 16, 8:48 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Theodore Tso, (Thu Nov 16, 9:07 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Linus Torvalds, (Thu Nov 16, 9:23 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Linus Torvalds, (Thu Nov 16, 9:30 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Carl Worth, (Thu Nov 16, 9:37 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Han-Wen Nienhuys, (Thu Nov 16, 9:42 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Theodore Tso, (Thu Nov 16, 9:49 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Carl Worth, (Thu Nov 16, 10:01 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Linus Torvalds, (Thu Nov 16, 10:17 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Linus Torvalds, (Thu Nov 16, 10:30 am)
multi-project repos (was Re: Cleaning up git user-interfac ..., Han-Wen Nienhuys, (Thu Nov 16, 10:40 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Sean, (Thu Nov 16, 10:44 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Michael K. Edwards, (Thu Nov 16, 10:57 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Linus Torvalds, (Thu Nov 16, 10:57 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Carl Worth, (Thu Nov 16, 11:13 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Carl Worth, (Thu Nov 16, 11:23 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Junio C Hamano, (Thu Nov 16, 11:27 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Linus Torvalds, (Thu Nov 16, 11:28 am)
Re: multi-project repos, Junio C Hamano, (Thu Nov 16, 11:33 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Junio C Hamano, (Thu Nov 16, 12:47 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Linus Torvalds, (Thu Nov 16, 12:53 pm)
Re: multi-project repos (was Re: Cleaning up git user-inte ..., Johannes Schindelin, (Thu Nov 16, 3:21 pm)
Re: multi-project repos, Junio C Hamano, (Thu Nov 16, 3:44 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Johannes Schindelin, (Thu Nov 16, 4:00 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Linus Torvalds, (Thu Nov 16, 4:22 pm)
Re: multi-project repos (was Re: Cleaning up git user-inte ..., Johannes Schindelin, (Thu Nov 16, 4:36 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Han-Wen Nienhuys, (Thu Nov 16, 5:05 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Junio C Hamano, (Thu Nov 16, 5:13 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Han-Wen Nienhuys, (Thu Nov 16, 5:27 pm)
Re: multi-project repos, Johannes Schindelin, (Thu Nov 16, 5:29 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Petr Baudis, (Thu Nov 16, 5:35 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Carl Worth, (Thu Nov 16, 5:37 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Linus Torvalds, (Thu Nov 16, 5:39 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Han-Wen Nienhuys, (Thu Nov 16, 5:52 pm)
Re: multi-project repos (was Re: Cleaning up git user-inte ..., Carl Worth, (Thu Nov 16, 6:08 pm)
Re: multi-project repos (was Re: Cleaning up git user-inte ..., Johannes Schindelin, (Thu Nov 16, 6:22 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Carl Worth, (Thu Nov 16, 6:25 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Michael K. Edwards, (Thu Nov 16, 6:34 pm)
Re: multi-project repos (was Re: Cleaning up git user-inte ..., Johannes Schindelin, (Thu Nov 16, 7:16 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Michael K. Edwards, (Thu Nov 16, 11:42 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Junio C Hamano, (Fri Nov 17, 12:32 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Junio C Hamano, (Fri Nov 17, 1:41 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Carl Worth, (Fri Nov 17, 2:18 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Johannes Schindelin, (Fri Nov 17, 3:11 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Junio C Hamano, (Fri Nov 17, 4:29 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Junio C Hamano, (Fri Nov 17, 4:41 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Karl , (Fri Nov 17, 5:20 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Shawn Pearce, (Fri Nov 17, 9:58 am)
Re: multi-project repos, Junio C Hamano, (Fri Nov 17, 10:39 am)
Re: multi-project repos, Junio C Hamano, (Fri Nov 17, 1:24 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Michael K. Edwards, (Fri Nov 17, 6:24 pm)
Re: multi-project repos, Shawn Pearce, (Fri Nov 17, 11:02 pm)
Re: multi-project repos, Junio C Hamano, (Sat Nov 18, 12:31 am)
Re: multi-project repos, Shawn Pearce, (Sat Nov 18, 12:45 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts , Horst H. von Brand, (Mon Nov 20, 12:44 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Shawn Pearce, (Mon Nov 20, 12:46 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts, Jerome Lovy, (Tue Nov 21, 6:25 am)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts , Sanjoy Mahajan, (Wed Nov 22, 4:21 pm)
Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts , Horst H. von Brand, (Wed Nov 22, 7:52 pm)