Re: What's in a name? Let's use a (uuid,name,email) triplet

On Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 05:45,  [off-list ref] wrote:

On Fri, 19 Mar 2010, Michael Witten wrote:

quoted

On Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 02:41, Michael Haggerty [off-list ref]
wrote:

quoted

Michael Witten wrote:

quoted

Rather than use a (name,email) pair to identify people, let's use
a (uuid,name,email) triplet.
[...]

A UUID doesn't need to be a big hex number.  All it has to be is a
"Universally Unique Identifier".  Like, oh, for example, your

                  *** EMAIL ADDRESS ***

[1].  There is even already a way to fix up mistakes or unavoidable
email address changes, namely the .mailmap file.

*facepalm*

You've just repeated everything that I've said; go look at the rest of
the thread, where I spend plenty of time correcting the same hangups
about my choice of the word UUID and my use of hex digits.

I'm only observing that the current name/email system pair conflates
an individual with his current email system and that it would be
worthwhile to ALLOW an individual to FURTHER describe himself by
including another piece of information that is solely meant as
identification within git. That piece of information could be whatever
a user deems to be uniquely identifying for himself. You could use
"Michael Haggerty [off-list ref]" as your uuid, and you could
still use it after you change the `email' config variable to something
else.

There is MUCH LESS CHANCE of such a uuid getting trashed by typos,
changing names, and changing email addresses; of course it can still
get messed up, but the rate at which something like .mailmap would
need to be updated would likely be greatly decreased and it would make
gathering statistics easier (especially for the individuals who take
advantage of such a uuid for describing themselves---and it only
requires setting one config variable to something easily remembered by
that person).

here is where you are missing the point.

no, there is not 'much less chance' of it getting messed up.

you seem to assume that people would never need to set the UUID on multiple
machines.

I covered that in the first email, highlighting the importance of
using an easily remembered, already reasonably unique piece of
information (like a name/email pair) that you don't need to change.

if they don't need to set it on multiple machines, then the e-mail/userid is
going to be reliable anyway

The problem is that the name/email pair (as in the 'name' and 'email'
config variables) is NOT ONLY subject to typos, but it is ALSO subject
to changing email accounts and changing real life names.

If you don't use the uuid `field' that I propose, then everything
would be just like it was before. If you do use it, then you can
easily identify all of your own contributions regardless of what your
name/email du jour is.

if they do need to set it on multiple machines and can't be bothered to keep
their e-mail consistant, why would they bother keeping this additional thing
considtant? Linus is pointing out that people don't care now about their
e-mail and name, and will care even less about some abstract UUID

The user doesn't have a damn choice!

The email can't be kept consistent over time because the tools expect
it to be and/or use the actual physical email used to send/receive
stuff. It's information that CONFLATES identity with whatever
tool/system you're using.

For instance, Michael Haggerty cannot reasonably use

    [user]
        name  = Michael Haggerty
        email = mhagger@MIT.EDU

because he likely no longer has that email account to use. He is
forced to change it and therefore forced to make his identity
confused.

I'm proposing ALLOWING him to say:

    [user]
        uuid  = Michael Haggerty [off-list ref]
        name  = Michael Haggerty
        email = mhagger@ALUM.mit.edu

Heck, let's say he works at Red Hat as well; he might make some
commits under this config AT WORK:

    [user]
        uuid  = Michael Haggerty [off-list ref]
        name  = Michael Haggerty
        email = mhagger@redhat.com

Then, he can make, say, commits to the Linux kernel repo for both work
and hobby related issues and still be recognized as the same person.
That is, he can have some commits under "Michael Haggerty
[off-list ref]" and other commits under "Michael Haggerty
<mhagger@redhat.com" and still link them all together as the same
identity with just the uuid "Michael Haggerty [off-list ref]".

Sincerely,
Michael Witten