Suggestion: add option in git-p4 to preserve user in Git repository

Hi,

I'm in a situation where I don't have P4 admin rights to use the
--preserve-user option of git-p4. However, I would like to keep user
information in the associated Git branch.

Would it be possible to add an option for this?

Thanks,

-=- Olivier

shish@keba.be wrote on Thu, 10 Jan 2013 22:38 -0500:

I'm in a situation where I don't have P4 admin rights to use the
--preserve-user option of git-p4. However, I would like to keep user
information in the associated Git branch.

Would it be possible to add an option for this?

The --preserve-user option is used to submit somebody else's work
from git to p4.  It does "p4 change -f" to edit the author of the
change after it has been submitted to p4.  P4 requires admin
privileges to do that.

Changes that are imported _from_ p4 to git do have the correct
author information.

Can you explain a bit more what you're looking for?

		-- Pete

2013/1/12 Pete Wyckoff [off-list ref]:

shish@keba.be wrote on Thu, 10 Jan 2013 22:38 -0500:

quoted

I'm in a situation where I don't have P4 admin rights to use the
--preserve-user option of git-p4. However, I would like to keep user
information in the associated Git branch.

Would it be possible to add an option for this?

The --preserve-user option is used to submit somebody else's work
from git to p4.  It does "p4 change -f" to edit the author of the
change after it has been submitted to p4.  P4 requires admin
privileges to do that.

Changes that are imported _from_ p4 to git do have the correct
author information.

Can you explain a bit more what you're looking for?

                -- Pete

Hi,

Sorry I wasn't clear enough. When "git p4 submit" submits changes from
Git to P4, it also edits the Git history and replaces the Git commits'
authors by the information from the Perforce account submitting the
changes. The advantage is that both the P4 and Git repositories share
the same author information, but in my case I would like to keep in
the Git repository the original authors (because the P4 account I'm
using to submit to P4 is shared by all Git users).

Hope it makes more sense now :)

-=- Olivier

shish@keba.be wrote on Sat, 12 Jan 2013 14:44 -0500:

2013/1/12 Pete Wyckoff [off-list ref]:

quoted

shish@keba.be wrote on Thu, 10 Jan 2013 22:38 -0500:

quoted

I'm in a situation where I don't have P4 admin rights to use the
--preserve-user option of git-p4. However, I would like to keep user
information in the associated Git branch.

Would it be possible to add an option for this?

The --preserve-user option is used to submit somebody else's work
from git to p4.  It does "p4 change -f" to edit the author of the
change after it has been submitted to p4.  P4 requires admin
privileges to do that.

Changes that are imported _from_ p4 to git do have the correct
author information.

Can you explain a bit more what you're looking for?

Sorry I wasn't clear enough. When "git p4 submit" submits changes from
Git to P4, it also edits the Git history and replaces the Git commits'
authors by the information from the Perforce account submitting the
changes. The advantage is that both the P4 and Git repositories share
the same author information, but in my case I would like to keep in
the Git repository the original authors (because the P4 account I'm
using to submit to P4 is shared by all Git users).

Ah, I see what you're looking for now.  It's certainly possible
to keep a mapping in the git side to remember who really wrote
each change that went into p4, but there's nothing set up to do
that now.  And it would be a fair amount of work, with many
little details.

You could put the true name in the commit message, like
we do signed-off-by messages: "Author: Real Coder [off-list ref]".
That would keep the proper attribution, but not work with "git
log --author", e.g.; you'd have to use "--grep='Real Coder'"
instead.

		-- Pete

2013/1/12 Pete Wyckoff [off-list ref]:

shish@keba.be wrote on Sat, 12 Jan 2013 14:44 -0500:

quoted

2013/1/12 Pete Wyckoff [off-list ref]:

quoted

shish@keba.be wrote on Thu, 10 Jan 2013 22:38 -0500:

quoted

I'm in a situation where I don't have P4 admin rights to use the
--preserve-user option of git-p4. However, I would like to keep user
information in the associated Git branch.

Would it be possible to add an option for this?

The --preserve-user option is used to submit somebody else's work
from git to p4.  It does "p4 change -f" to edit the author of the
change after it has been submitted to p4.  P4 requires admin
privileges to do that.

Changes that are imported _from_ p4 to git do have the correct
author information.

Can you explain a bit more what you're looking for?

Sorry I wasn't clear enough. When "git p4 submit" submits changes from
Git to P4, it also edits the Git history and replaces the Git commits'
authors by the information from the Perforce account submitting the
changes. The advantage is that both the P4 and Git repositories share
the same author information, but in my case I would like to keep in
the Git repository the original authors (because the P4 account I'm
using to submit to P4 is shared by all Git users).

Ah, I see what you're looking for now.  It's certainly possible
to keep a mapping in the git side to remember who really wrote
each change that went into p4, but there's nothing set up to do
that now.  And it would be a fair amount of work, with many
little details.

You could put the true name in the commit message, like
we do signed-off-by messages: "Author: Real Coder [off-list ref]".
That would keep the proper attribution, but not work with "git
log --author", e.g.; you'd have to use "--grep='Real Coder'"
instead.

Ok, thanks. I actually manage to hack my way around it, restoring the
author information with "git filter-branch" and overriding the remote
p4 tracking branch with "git update-ref". Did some limited testing and
it seems to work -- hopefully I won't have nasty surprises down the
road ;)

-=- Olivier

Olivier, did you upload your hacked version anywhere? 
I also need something like this.