From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.0 (2014-02-07) on dcvr.yhbt.net X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-ASN: AS31976 209.132.176.0/21 X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.5 required=3.0 tests=AWL,BAYES_00, HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS,MSGID_FROM_MTA_HEADER,RP_MATCHES_RCVD shortcircuit=no autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.0 From: Linus Torvalds Subject: Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2006 19:07:11 -0800 (PST) Message-ID: References: <200611151858.51833.andyparkins@gmail.com> <87velgs9hx.wl%cworth@cworth.org> <87psbos4pb.wl%cworth@cworth.org> <20061115230252.GH24861@spearce.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2006 03:07:38 +0000 (UTC) Cc: Shawn Pearce , Carl Worth , "Michael K. Edwards" , git@vger.kernel.org Return-path: Envelope-to: gcvg-git@gmane.org In-Reply-To: X-MIMEDefang-Filter: osdl$Revision: 1.156 $ X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.36 Precedence: bulk X-Mailing-List: git@vger.kernel.org Archived-At: Received: from vger.kernel.org ([209.132.176.167]) by ciao.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1GkXbA-0008IP-RZ for gcvg-git@gmane.org; Thu, 16 Nov 2006 04:07:33 +0100 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1031045AbWKPDH3 (ORCPT ); Wed, 15 Nov 2006 22:07:29 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1031039AbWKPDH3 (ORCPT ); Wed, 15 Nov 2006 22:07:29 -0500 Received: from smtp.osdl.org ([65.172.181.4]:52368 "EHLO smtp.osdl.org") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1030950AbWKPDH2 (ORCPT ); Wed, 15 Nov 2006 22:07:28 -0500 Received: from shell0.pdx.osdl.net (fw.osdl.org [65.172.181.6]) by smtp.osdl.org (8.12.8/8.12.8) with ESMTP id kAG37CoZ023115 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=EDH-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA bits=168 verify=NO); Wed, 15 Nov 2006 19:07:13 -0800 Received: from localhost (shell0.pdx.osdl.net [10.9.0.31]) by shell0.pdx.osdl.net (8.13.1/8.11.6) with ESMTP id kAG37Bqs009205; Wed, 15 Nov 2006 19:07:11 -0800 To: Nicolas Pitre Sender: git-owner@vger.kernel.org On Wed, 15 Nov 2006, Nicolas Pitre wrote: > > That is an implementation detail that should be easily overcome once the > notion of tracking branch with URL attribute is implemented. Nope. I simply don't _have_ those branches. Why? Because the kernel is _distributed_. There is no central place (certainly not my repository) that tracks all the possible branches that might get merged. In other words, I repeat: in a TRULY DISTRIBUTED ENVIRONMENT it makes more sense to have a "pull" that fetches and merges, over something that fetches separately and then merges. Because in a truly distributed environment, you simply DO NOT HAVE static branches that you can associate with particular sources. See? And the thing is, I think the git design should be geared towards true distribution. It should NOT be geared toward a fairly static set of branches that all have a fairly static set of other repositories associated with them. Can you see the difference? I'm personally convinced that one of the reasons people tend to use git in a centralized manner is just a mental disease that has its roots in how they used _other_ SCM's. I don't want git design to be polluted by such a centralized notion. So to repeat: you can always make "pull" boil down to "pull from myself" (aka just "merge"), but you can _not_ make "fetch + merge" boil down to "pull" without meking up extra state to track separately. In other words, "pull" really is the strictly more powerful operation.