Re: [PATCH v2] Make git selectively and conditionally ignore certain stat fields

Robin Rosenberg [off-list ref] writes:

quoted

I'd say a simplistic "ignore if zero is stored" or even "ignore this
as one of the systems that shares this file writes crap in it" may
be sufficient, and if this is a jGit specific issue, it might even
make sense to introduce a single configuration variable with string
"jgit" somewhere in its name and bypass the stat field comparison
for known-problematic fields, instead of having the user know and
list what stat fields need special attention.

My first patch was something like that, just not using the word jgit. As
for what fields to ignore, it's something that can be configured by EGit
and documented on the EGit/JGit wiki. 

That configurability is a slipperly slope to drag us into giving users
more complexity that does not help them very much, I suspect.

Earlier somebody mentioned "size and mtime is often enough", so I
think a single option core.looseStatInfo (substitute "loose" with
short, minimum or whatever adjective that is more appropriate---I am
not good at picking phrases, it sounds to me a way to more loosely
define stat info cleanliness than we usually do) that makes us
ignore all fields (regardless of their zero-ness) other than those
two fields might not be a bad way to go.

I do not offhand know if such a loose mode is too simple and make it
excessively risky, though.