Re: [kernel.org users] [RFD] On deprecating "git-foo" for builtins

On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 5:59 PM, David Woodhouse [off-list ref] wrote:

On Tue, 2008-08-26 at 11:34 -0400, Kristian Høgsberg wrote:

quoted

It's pretty normal to see opponents of a decision like this complain
loudly when it lands on their system, whereas the silent majority in
favour will be happy to see the change finally implemented but reluctant
to stir up the discussion again.

I don't think new arguments are brought to the discussion, just new
people, who are temporarily inconvened by a change towards sanity.

Nice emotive response, especially the subtle but unsubstantiated 'silent
majority in favour' bit -- but you forgot the part where you were
supposed to actually point out a tangible benefit which is achieved by
breaking compatibility like this.

And no, reducing the size of /usr/bin by a tiny fraction isn't really a
worthwhile benefit -- in reality, the 'silent majority' really couldn't
give a monkey's left testicle about that, and breakage caused by the
gratuitous change _far_ outweighs any minuscule improvement.

Correct, but there is a benefit. Imagine a new user:

git-<tab><tab> ... what? 140-something commands? I'll better start looking
for alternatives _right now_!

Having a cluttered namespace is never a good thing. It means that it's
less obvious which commands you are supposed to use etc.