Re: [PATCH 4/4] config: allow including config from repository blobs

Johannes Sixt [off-list ref] writes:

Am 1/27/2012 6:42, schrieb Jeff King:

quoted

That being said, I think it would be nicer for projects to carry meta
information like this out-of-tree in a special ref. It's just simpler to
work with, and it means the project's source isn't polluted with extra
junk.

Really? I doubt that carrying configuration in a special ref outside the
normal contents will have any practical relevance:

To manage such a config file would mean to switch to a branch with
entirely different contents. But before you can test the new configuration
in action, you have to commit, switch branches, which exchanges the
worktree completely; and if the config change didn't work out, repeat the
process (and if we are talking about source code repository, this usally
includes a complete rebuild). Sure, you could keep the config branch in a
separate repository, but, again, how do you test an updated configuration?
It is not funny, and nobody will go this route.

Which raises doubts about the usefulness of the include.ref feature.

Hmm, good point.

What I envisioned, when I said "meta:gitconfig" might make sense, was to
do something like:

 * have a separate worktree via git-new-worktree in meta/, so that you
   do not have to switch away from the "source" branch and trash the
   working tree for it; and

 * update meta/gitconfig, perhaps make commit there, and possibly push
   it back for public consuption.

In other words, I think "you *could* keep the config branch in a separate
repository" is more like "you would most likely want to have a separate
checkout of the config branch for this 'meta' branch to be useful".

And at that point, as you said, setting include.path = meta/gitconfig
(with possibly adding meta/ in .git/info/exclude) would be far more
pleasant, because you would have a chance to experiment your changes to
the file before committing it.

So having include.ref, while it is a fun thought experiment, would not
help very much in the real life.