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,DKIM_SIGNED, DKIM_VALID,DKIM_VALID_AU,HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_HI, T_RP_MATCHES_RCVD 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 729EE1F404 for ; Thu, 14 Dec 2017 19:40:57 +0000 (UTC) Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1752090AbdLNTky (ORCPT ); Thu, 14 Dec 2017 14:40:54 -0500 Received: from pb-smtp2.pobox.com ([64.147.108.71]:51152 "EHLO sasl.smtp.pobox.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-FAIL) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751952AbdLNTkx (ORCPT ); Thu, 14 Dec 2017 14:40:53 -0500 Received: from sasl.smtp.pobox.com (unknown [127.0.0.1]) by pb-smtp2.pobox.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 10F0DC86E1; Thu, 14 Dec 2017 14:40:53 -0500 (EST) 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=XnKGvOF7KuWBFmufMfYfsk0N5lQ=; b=mKwaaZ BBopO7uk7Nq3uGbTxtu5+9wXKoSTsUE49+of31dWBZYivi4hapUW/bHtYd3XBt40 cQLV+tY4HiO486tbA0WpcPnU9mdK898MUlDkGxyWeDeivd8G84FZup3bbGLGOw1j gyokm3yoksDQrCA/C3qV+Qh1LqDQxDmINsSaA= 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=VqlEtAza7FqntAvJ0BKFpd578D4Sp4q+ HtIQnv62ckEbfmokPCBjLXPL10MWMrSEwrAmfAYknhdBp6f/KbShNV7LG/eQZKbp IBGT/V4RVOqO8e8dmsGFGfL+6/7uNyI6igF/Pf5djj4oDGmh54NkafgAw1+syyvO DvxsixLZLbI= Received: from pb-smtp2.nyi.icgroup.com (unknown [127.0.0.1]) by pb-smtp2.pobox.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0825AC86E0; Thu, 14 Dec 2017 14:40:53 -0500 (EST) 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 6468BC86DF; Thu, 14 Dec 2017 14:40:52 -0500 (EST) From: Junio C Hamano To: "David A. Wheeler" Cc: Stefan Beller , =?utf-8?B?w4Z2YXIgQXJuZmrDtnI=?= =?utf-8?B?w7A=?= Bjarmason , Jacob Keller , git Subject: Re: [PATCH] doc: Modify git-add doc to say "staging area" References: <01075529-4B7B-4C05-927F-0504315F2B3F@dwheeler.com> <6382776C-175A-4E27-8D7C-385FFF167535@dwheeler.com> Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2017 11:40:51 -0800 In-Reply-To: <6382776C-175A-4E27-8D7C-385FFF167535@dwheeler.com> (David A. Wheeler's message of "Thu, 14 Dec 2017 14:05:21 -0500") Message-ID: User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/25.2.50 (gnu/linux) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain X-Pobox-Relay-ID: B1AB953C-E106-11E7-8985-575F0C78B957-77302942!pb-smtp2.pobox.com Sender: git-owner@vger.kernel.org Precedence: bulk List-ID: X-Mailing-List: git@vger.kernel.org "David A. Wheeler" writes: > On December 14, 2017 1:50:00 PM EST, Junio C Hamano wrote: >>I agree with that. I do not consider the proposed change "good". > > Why is "index" better? It is a confusing name, one that has many > other unrelated meanings. In particular, many projects managed by > git also have an index, but few have a staging area. That's an absurd argument. A database product that wants to be used in library systems are forbidden to have "index" because that may be confused with library index cards? > Also, the phrase "staging area" is already in use, so this is not > a new term (e.g., git-staging). That gets us back to the "'X acts like Y' is different from 'X is Y'". Besides, the phrase "staging area" is a near-sighted and narrow minded term. It focuses too much on working towards the next commit, and ignores there are other aspects that are equally important. When you check out historical revisions (without any intention of making new commits, just sightseeing), for example, the index does not act as "staging area" for creating a new commit. But it still serves Git users by keeping track of the list of paths that came from the HEAD, and recording their contents and the cached stat info for the working tree files (all using the pathnames as keys into these data items).