Re: [PATCH] format-patch: remove existing output-directory

John Keeping [off-list ref] writes:

On Fri, Jun 14, 2013 at 06:13:33PM +0530, Ramkumar Ramachandra wrote:

quoted

The following command

  $ git format-patch -o outgoing master

does not ensure that the output-directory outgoing doesn't already
exist.  As a result, it's possible for patches from two different series
to get mixed up if the user is not careful.  Fix the problem by
unconditionally removing the output-directory before writing to it.

I don't think this is the correct behaviour.  I can think of cases where
I would want to output multiple things into the same directory.

It may be better to issue a warning when this happens, or die and
provide a flag to let the user bypass that.

Absolutely.  I think this too dangeous, and will kill the
possibility to further improve "format-patch -v$n".

An option (and configuration that expresses the user's wish) to
error out when -o diretory exists is probably as far as we would
want to go. Removal is way too much to accept without risk of
hurting users.