Re: 2 questions/nits about commit and config

On Sat, 4 Feb 2006, Junio C Hamano wrote:

Here is me thinking aloud again.

 - "git commit" without _any_ parameter would keep the current
   behaviour.  It commits the current index.

   We have two choices.  (1) we disallow this form to be run in
   a subdirectory, or (2) we do the whole index even when this
   form was run from a subdirectory.  I am inclined to say the
   latter.

I'd guess this would primarily happen when the user goes into a 
subdirectory to look at related files when resolving a conflicted merge. 
If you're committing the prepared index, the working tree isn't 
particularly important, so the pwd isn't, either.

 - "git commit paths..." acquires a new semantics.  This is an
   incompatible change that needs user training, which I am
   still a bit reluctant to swallow, but enough people seem to
   have complained.  It

   1. refuses to run if $GIT_DIR/MERGE_HEAD exists (maybe
      remind trained git users that the traditional semantics
      now needs -i flag).
   2. refuses to run if named paths... are different in HEAD and
      the index (ditto about reminding).
   3. reads HEAD commit into a temporary index file.
   4. updates named paths... from the working tree in this
      temporary index (similar to -i form, we never --add).

I think the following sequence should be permitted:

% git add foo
% git commit foo

I think this means we want --add in step 4, but want to check that the 
named paths exist in the index in step 3, although they're allowed to not 
exist in HEAD.

   5. does the same updates of the paths... from the working
      tree to the real index.
   6. makes a commit using the temporary index that has the
      current HEAD as the parent, and updates the HEAD with this
      new commit.

   The first check is needed because otherwise during a merge
   you would end up inserting an unrelated commit between the
   original HEAD and the eventual merge result.  The second
   check is to prevent "skewed commit" from confusing people.
   If you updated index, modified the file further and then used
   "git commit paths..." to make a commit, next "git commit"
   without paths would record a partial revert otherwise.

   For this one, I think running from subdirectory is a natural
   thing to allow.

 - "git commit --all".  Now what should we do about this?  As
   you reminded me, it is equivalent to "git commit -i ." if run
   from the toplevel (because of the "index must match HEAD on
   named paths" requirements for the partial commits with named
   paths, it is equivalent to "git commit ." only if your index
   is clean).  I am inclined to say that this should commit all
   changes in the whole working tree, regardless of where it is
   run.

Agreed.

	-Daniel
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