From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Junio C Hamano Subject: Re: [PATCH 0/3] preparatory patches for the submodule groups Date: Tue, 03 May 2016 15:24:41 -0700 Message-ID: References: <1462227844-10624-1-git-send-email-sbeller@google.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Cc: Jens Lehmann , "git\@vger.kernel.org" To: Stefan Beller X-From: git-owner@vger.kernel.org Wed May 04 00:25:10 2016 Return-path: Envelope-to: gcvg-git-2@plane.gmane.org Received: from vger.kernel.org ([209.132.180.67]) by plane.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1axikc-0004bd-E1 for gcvg-git-2@plane.gmane.org; Wed, 04 May 2016 00:25:06 +0200 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1756818AbcECWZA (ORCPT ); Tue, 3 May 2016 18:25:00 -0400 Received: from pb-smtp2.pobox.com ([64.147.108.71]:56613 "EHLO sasl.smtp.pobox.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-FAIL) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1756788AbcECWYp (ORCPT ); Tue, 3 May 2016 18:24:45 -0400 Received: from sasl.smtp.pobox.com (unknown [127.0.0.1]) by pb-smtp2.pobox.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id F173B18D3E; Tue, 3 May 2016 18:24:43 -0400 (EDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha1; c=relaxed; d=pobox.com; h=from:to:cc :subject:references:date:in-reply-to:message-id:mime-version :content-type; s=sasl; bh=XPdC+CQPWlkAAG2F5gWoswRsc8o=; b=CFKS9w jNc2LaWD43AP26JPJ+Ysf6nvgMp/6I4Xn7X0jKycTwJO8r9ulG27gsE7z6QnrrYP ukPHxjC3s77Khwqz04gLODkf2A1ARuOpeQYvbnq3Tv/ppbUMTMjsd0g6hl4ft0g6 MvaE4IJwNbDWJur3eQ35KHX+A1fS/eMO2yDOY= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=pobox.com; h=from:to:cc :subject:references:date:in-reply-to:message-id:mime-version :content-type; q=dns; s=sasl; b=YLXXbN2tKwG4qWNkHKCQG6hdY+TsMsMj 8k6PKA8jwED64VFXgYh6WjoRqxCURcX1Uv1/I2xH9zuMzPKAvc/gZ9OoR0eB5XNa +N4YLkIjfUx96CoSkFrvNIxhHvUvDz2TtmZxJZuP7Z+4qW8rnXGa5ua8VySN3TBL I2WitloenOQ= Received: from pb-smtp2.nyi.icgroup.com (unknown [127.0.0.1]) by pb-smtp2.pobox.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id E98F218D3D; Tue, 3 May 2016 18:24:43 -0400 (EDT) Received: from pobox.com (unknown [104.132.0.95]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA (128/128 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by pb-smtp2.pobox.com (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 33BD018D3C; Tue, 3 May 2016 18:24:43 -0400 (EDT) In-Reply-To: (Stefan Beller's message of "Tue, 3 May 2016 14:57:00 -0700") User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/24.3 (gnu/linux) X-Pobox-Relay-ID: D585AAF6-117D-11E6-8888-D05A70183E34-77302942!pb-smtp2.pobox.com Sender: git-owner@vger.kernel.org Precedence: bulk List-ID: X-Mailing-List: git@vger.kernel.org Archived-At: Stefan Beller writes: >> I wouldn't be surprised if many people wished that "git branch" did >> not list (and required "git branch -l" to list) to scroll everything >> they are looking away but instead showed what the current branch is. > > Isn't that yet another more specialized mode of operation? Yes. It all boils down to "what is the most common thing people would want" and "which one of these operation modes deserve the short-hand". Most often, the first one that gets invented ends up squatting on the short-and-sweet "by default without parameter, we do this" slot, and we have to let it squat forever due to backward compatibility. I think "git branch" that shows all 300 branches is a good example of that--if we didn't have command line prompt support, I am reasonably sure that "git branch --current-branch" would have been added by popular request long time ago, and that would be a more common thing people would want than "git branch -l". I would not be surprised if in an alternative universe in which both "list" and "tell me current" were available back when the "no option default" had not been defined yet, we gave the shortest-and-sweetest to "git branch ---current-branch".