Re: Cleaning up git user-interface warts

Nicolas Pitre [off-list ref] writes:

quoted

Why not do something like "get/put" instead? It is

- easier to remember
- not bogus (AFAICT the meaning is not used in diametrical senses)
- shorter to type than download/upload

Well, of all compromizes this is probably the best one so far.  I would 
have prefered to bite the bullet and fix "pull" instead of adding yet 
more commands.  But if the consensus is that there is no way on earth 
that "pull" can be salvaged then get/put is probably more enjoyable than 
download/upload.  This way pull/fetch/push could still be available 
(albeit burried somewhere out of sight).

I still think in the long run you would be better off giving
separate names to Porcelains because I am sure you are going to
find the next command to "fix", you cannot suddenly change the
semantics of the command, and you soon run out of alternative
ways to name the action and you in addition have to explain the
differences between fetch and get to new users.  At least, with
"ig pull", you can dismiss all the broken git-x Porcelain-ish by
saying "Oh, git-x user-level commands had inconsistent semantics
and broken UI so do not use them anymore -- they are still there
only to help old timers transition.  The user level commands are
now called ig-x and ig stands for improved git".

But that's a very minor detail and can be fixed when we hit the
wall, so let's wait and see what happens.  Please consider my
gh/gu/cg/whatever dropped.

I think get/put is much better than suddenly changing what pull
means and is shorter to type than x-load; I am Ok with them.
Although I think these words are tainted by SCCS, I do not think
anybody cares.

Junio C Hamano escreveu:

I still think in the long run you would be better off giving
separate names to Porcelains because I am sure you are going to
find the next command to "fix", you cannot suddenly change the

 > "ig pull", you can dismiss all the broken git-x Porcelain-ish by
 > saying "Oh, git-x user-level commands had inconsistent semantics
 > and broken UI so do not use them anymore -- they are still there
 > only to help old timers transition.  The user level commands are
 > now called ig-x and ig stands for improved git".


I think it would be good if there were different commands for 
porcelains. Not because fixing the current commands is too much work, 
but rather because it would clarify the structure of git.  GIT is a 
3-layer approach:

  - index+workdir+refs over
  - a DAG of commits over
  - a file based SHA1 database

at first sight it is difficult to tell for each command on which layer 
it operates. It would help understanding GIT a lot if each layer got 
it's own command, eg.

   git - sha1 content db
   gic - sequences of commits
   giu - UI

(Of course, these names are completely silly, but you get the idea)

I think get/put is much better than suddenly changing what pull
means and is shorter to type than x-load; I am Ok with them.
Although I think these words are tainted by SCCS, I do not think
anybody cares.

they're also tainted  by darcs, but that's a minor problem, I suppose.


-- 

On Wednesday 2006, November 15 18:16, Junio C Hamano wrote:

I still think in the long run you would be better off giving
separate names to Porcelains because I am sure you are going to

The problem I think with that is that the line between plumbing and porcelain 
is not clear.  If you have two names then for the ambiguous ones you are just 
making it more confusing because there is yet another variable to try before 
you get the function you want.



Andy

-- 
Dr Andrew Parkins, M Eng (Hons), AMIEE