Re: Is my repository broken?

On Tue, 8 Apr 2008, Shawn O. Pearce wrote:

Julian Phillips [off-list ref] wrote:

quoted

[...] In particular I had a number of commits with an empty ident [...]

...

quoted

Also, shouldn't fast-import be imposing the same restrictions on what you
are allowed to commit that the main git tools do?  If not, are such
restrictions documented so that I can apply them in my conversion script?

Hmm, no.  fast-import allows what the generalized data model permits
in the object store, its really plumbing.  If you are feeding it
an input stream that creates data that isn't compliant with what
the higher level VCS porcelain wants, well, all I can say is "don't
do that".

Well, the 16 parent limit is enforced in builtin-commit-tree.c, and the 
commit-tree command is listed as plumbingmanipulators in command-list.txt 
- and the #define line actually blames all the way back to Linus' original 
commit.  So that's not really a porcelain thing ;), but ... *shrugs*

The fast-import manual specifically warns in the "merge" command
documentation that you may not want to use more than 15 merge
commands, as it can create a commit that other tools based around
git won't like.  But we still let you do it.

Ok, so the answer is "read the manpage" ... that's what I get for spending 
so long playing with fast-import that I don't read the manpage anymore 
(I found the syntax description in fast-import.c a more useful 
reference) ... ho hum.

We also still let you create a commit with duplicate parents.

Well - that certainly shouldn't be happening - I remebered to check for 
that one.

Some tools (gitk) have had issues with that in the past, but many of
them have been fixed after a fast-import result was used with them.

quoted

From a VCS point of view its silly to list the same ancestor twice.

But from an object model point of view, it may make sense if you
were building something else on top of the core plumbing.

Would it make sense perhaps for fast-import to warn about (or even error 
out on) such things unless you tell it not to?  Most people would probably 
want to know if they were creating a repository that wasn't going to play 
nice with git's main tool suite?  (I didn't realise that I _was_ creating 

16 way merges until filter-branch told me).

The same holds true for the empty ident.

Ok - but I can't even find a note in the manpage for this one ...

-- 
Julian

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