Re: refactoring in GIT

Hi Eugene

#1. I want to refactor class A into few classes B,C,D. How should I check
them
in and mark class A inactive so that development on A stops? Note, I do
need A
stay in repository for backward compt. with prior code releases.

Well, if you really need to keep that file, how about a huge comment at
the beginning of the file?  Or move its content somewhere else and
#include it from the original file.
Git really can't help you here. This is a communication issue within your
project.  Resulting from its distributed design git does not have a global
"lock" feature that could be misused for that matter.

#2. [related question] What if another developer already had A in his
local
repository, made changes and wants to commit after me. I just made A
obsolete.
Does he have drop his changes and take B,C,D from me and/or merge?

Git can't help you here either.
If your changes don't conflict with their changes, they won't notice if
they do not examine your changes. This again is a
communication/coordination issue, not a git one. However, if you had moved
"A" away or changed every line, the other developers would get a conflict
when trying to pull your stuff.

Further, git obviously won't automatically refactor other developers code
to match your changes. Depending on the complexity of your refactoring,
you might be able to play around with patches manually.

The least thing you can do is to inform the other developers about your
changes and apologize for not telling them that you planned to make A
obsolete in advance ;)