Re: Config variables and scripting // was Re: [RFC/PATCH] log: add log.firstparent option

On Wed, Jul 22, 2015 at 10:48 PM, Jeff King [off-list ref] wrote:

On Wed, Jul 22, 2015 at 10:14:45PM -0700, Jeff King wrote:

quoted

Script writers should not care here, because they should not be parsing
the output of the porcelain "log" command in the first place. It already
has many gotchas (e.g., log.date, log.abbrevCommit).

I am sympathetic, though. There are some things that git-log can do that
rev-list cannot, so people end up using it in scripts. I think you can
avoid it with a "rev-list | diff-tree" pipeline, though I'm not 100%
sure if that covers all cases. But I would much rather see a solution
along the lines of making the plumbing cover more cases, rather than
trying to make the porcelain behave in a script.

Ah, I see in a nearby thread that you just recently fixed a problem with
git-subtree and log.date, so I see now why you are so interested. :)

And I was also reminded by that usage of why rev-list is annoying in
scripts: even with "--format", it insists on writing the "commit ..."
header. I wonder if we could fix that...

-Peff
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Agreed. Fix the plumbing instead and document how/why to use it
instead of the porcelain. We might do better to help clearly document
which commands are porcelain and which are plumbing maybe by
referencing which plumbings to use in place of various porcelain
commands. I know, for example, that git status already does this.

Regards,
Jake