From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.0 (2014-02-07) on dcvr.yhbt.net X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-ASN: AS31976 209.132.180.0/23 X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.7 required=3.0 tests=AWL,BAYES_00, HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_HI,RP_MATCHES_RCVD, STOX_REPLY_TYPE shortcircuit=no autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.0 Received: from vger.kernel.org (vger.kernel.org [209.132.180.67]) by dcvr.yhbt.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id D05F71F6C1 for ; Mon, 15 Aug 2016 12:38:56 +0000 (UTC) Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1753030AbcHOMix (ORCPT ); Mon, 15 Aug 2016 08:38:53 -0400 Received: from smtp-out-4.talktalk.net ([62.24.135.68]:20102 "EHLO smtp-out-4.talktalk.net" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1752925AbcHOMiw (ORCPT ); Mon, 15 Aug 2016 08:38:52 -0400 Received: from PhilipOakley ([92.22.3.79]) by smtp.talktalk.net with SMTP id ZH93b572wcpskZH93bCOeu; Mon, 15 Aug 2016 13:38:39 +0100 X-Originating-IP: [92.22.3.79] X-Spam: 0 X-OAuthority: v=2.2 cv=ILRAMUnG c=1 sm=1 tr=0 a=LkKjIWfvQdKNf3TZC4q4CQ==:117 a=LkKjIWfvQdKNf3TZC4q4CQ==:17 a=IkcTkHD0fZMA:10 a=pGLkceISAAAA:8 a=1XWaLZrsAAAA:8 a=IybZy-SpAF9tWSOjtQ8A:9 a=6kGIvZw6iX1k4Y-7sg4_:22 a=nJcEw6yWrPvoIXZ49MH8:22 Message-ID: Reply-To: "Philip Oakley" From: "Philip Oakley" To: "Duy Nguyen" , "Stefan Beller" Cc: "Jacob Keller" , "Git List" References: Subject: Re: storing cover letter of a patch series? Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2016 13:37:33 +0100 Organization: OPDS MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="UTF-8"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.5931 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.6157 X-CMAE-Envelope: MS4wfNkuLZI2slmzuCv7elqPNC+hAIPX0VQ8uI504mL0EtJ0ikjyIKvEKnSh8HMSC9cFU47Zykv8tYvOfIcW2HguEfs4mWYV2knnT/tvu1EieyHxUmNR8gbd yYbh9kdjqaTcZxeir2uYa4O+CyoBFGx1BGN/NxBFoVae1WBJ0WlWARZ1UDyf7HX3r0VV88cn2hUPT8KtExWWgupJS5F+wsurPa+quTSNKiFWPHiNEGL+U3Ek ve+dt8BIg06Xrqk3GjmlHQ== Sender: git-owner@vger.kernel.org Precedence: bulk List-ID: X-Mailing-List: git@vger.kernel.org From: "Duy Nguyen" > On Mon, Aug 15, 2016 at 1:28 PM, Stefan Beller wrote: >> On Sun, Aug 14, 2016 at 12:15 AM, Jacob Keller >> wrote: >>> On Sat, Aug 13, 2016 at 1:49 AM, Duy Nguyen wrote: >>>> On Tue, Aug 9, 2016 at 12:27 AM, Stefan Beller >>>> wrote: >>>>> is what you want. Maybe we want to see a patch that adds the reverse >>>>> functionality as well, i.e. git-am will store the the cover letter as >>>>> the >>>>> branch description and git-merge will propose the branch description >>>>> for >>>>> the merge commit. >>>> >>>> I almost suggested the same, but there is a problem with this >>>> approach: if you're are on a detached head, where does git-am save it? >> >> What would the user expect? We can have a range of expectations: >> 1) reject and error out git-am >> 2) warn about not saving branch.description and continue with am >> 3) have a (maybe special) branch.HEAD.description thing, same for >> FETCH_HEAD etc >> 4) have a config option to choose between 1 and 2, if unset default to 1 >> >> I think 3 is a bad choice. >> 4 seems reasonable to me, though I wonder if some people use git-am in >> a scripted workflow with a detached head and then create the branch >> afterwards? >> So >> >> 5) create a branch for them? (such as $(date)-${subject}) >> >> My gut reaction doesn't like 5 either. > > I'm starting to think option 6 (storing cover latter as an empty > commit at tip then git-merge replaces it with a merge commit in a > permanent history) may be the way to go. It handles detached heads > just fine, we have reflog to store older cover letters. Though it will > not play nice with 'git commit --amend' and 'git reset' for people who > rewrites history heavily during development, but maybe 'git rebase -i > --autosquash' would be an ok workflow alternative. > -- [sorry if this is not the right place to 'drop in'..] I appreciate there has been a lot of discussion, but it mainly appears to be about an upstream / integration viewpoint. I'd hate it if there was a one size fits all solution that was only focused on one important use case, rather than having at least a simple fallback for simple folk. Personally I liked the idea that I could start my patch series branch with a simple 'empty' commit with a commit message that read "cover! " and continue with the cover letter. It's essentially the same as the fixup! and squash! idea (more the latter - it's squash! without a predecessor). For moderate size series a simple 'git rebase master..' is sufficient to see the whole series and decide which need editing, rewording, swapping, checking the fixups, etc. Format-patch would then be taught to spot that the first commit in the series is "cover! " and create the usual 0/N cover letter. Git Gui may need to be taught to recognise cover! (haven't checked if it recognises an empty commit squash!). Possibly 'git commit' may want a --cover option to massage the commit message and add --allow-empty, but that's finesse. I've no problem with more extensive methods for those preparing very big patch series, or with those needing to merge together a lot of series and want to keep the cover letters, but ensuring that a simple flow is possible should still be there. -- Philip