Re: [PATCH] Move all dashed form git commands to libexecdir

On Thu, Nov 29, 2007 at 04:49:26PM -0800, Junio C Hamano wrote:

I understand your point was primarily "git-a<tab>".  I think it has been
solved for bash and zsh but not for other shells.  I think possible and
sensible avenues are (1) punt -- cvs, svn nor hg people do not seem to
have problem with it, or (2) implement completion in your other favorite
shells.

My point is that (2) is already implemented for every program (shell or
no) which understands filename completion, and there is a proposal for
taking it away. I would consider that, except I haven't see any claimed
advantages except that the hardlinks are awful under Windows.

I am proposing to have those dashed forms on platforms where it makes
sense, but to treat them as second-class citizens (by putting them in
$(libexecdir), which will address consistency problems.

And I think the following from Linus makes sense.

quoted

And from a consistency standpoint, that would be a *good* thing. There are 
many reasons why the git-xyz format *cannot* be the "consistent" form
(ranging from the flags like --bare and -p to just aliases), so 
encouraging people to move to "git xyz" is just a good idea.

Yeah, yeah, the man-pages need the "git-xyz" form, but on the other hand, 
rather than "man git-xyz", you can just do "git help xyz" instead, and now 
you're consistently avoiding the dash again!

but I am feeling quite feverish today so I may be missing something
obvious.

I thought Linus' point was that moving the subcommands was sufficient
for dealing with the consistency issue (i.e., all scripts would move to
"git foo" and only those people who really wanted to would put the
dashed forms in their path). From the same email you quoted, but just
above:

On Thu, 29 Nov 2007, Jeff King wrote:

quoted

Yes, I am fine with the user having to go to extra lengths to use the
dash forms (like adding $(libexecdir) to their path), which I think
should address your consistency concern.

I agree. If we actually start moving the subcommands into a separate
directory, I suspect scripts will be fixed up soon enough. Of course
people *can* do it by just adding the path, but more likely, we'll just
see people start doign "git xyz" instead of "git-xyz".

But now we are arguing about what Linus meant like it is scripture. ;)

-Peff