Re: backwards compatibility, was Re: [PATCH v1 1/3] Introduce config variable "diff.primer"

On Mon, Jan 26, 2009 at 6:16 AM, Jeff King [off-list ref] wrote:

I don't want to break existing setups, either. But at some point you
have to say "this is porcelain, so don't rely on there not being any
user-triggered effects in its behavior". If porcelain is cast in stone,
then what is the point in differentiating plumbing from porcelain?

And when the line is blurred (as I think it is in several places)

Aside, AIX has commands that are run both directly or via smit (a
curses-based interface). When smit calls the commands, it passes a
switch to let said commands know that they are being run from smit.
e.g.:

       -J
            This flag is used when the installp command is executed from the
            System Management Interface Tool (SMIT) menus.

Perhaps adding such a concept to those git commands which can be used
in both porcelain and plumbing contexts would be useful for git.

j.