Re: [PATCH v3 7/8] checkout: introduce --{,no-}overlay option

Hi,

Junio C Hamano wrote:

Thomas Gummerer [off-list ref] writes:

quoted

Jonathan Nieder wrote:

quoted

quoted

Is this analogous to "git add --ignore-removal"?  If so, can we just
call it --ignore-removal?

Yes, it seems like they are very similar.

Hmm, I am not sure if the word "removal" makes sense in the context
of "checkout", as "removal" is an _action_ just like "checking out"
itself is, and not a _state_.  You'd check out a state out of a tree
to the index and the working tree, so "checking out absence of a
path" may make sense, though, as "absence of a path" is a state
recorded in that source tree object.

I find --ignore-removal fairly easy to understand, and I had no idea
what --overlay would mean.

I realize this is just one user's experience.  I'd be happy to do a
little informal survey (e.g. taking the description from the manpage
and asking people to name the option) if that's useful.

See also https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=32212 on this subject.

The word "removal" makes little sense in "git add --ignore-removal",
but it and "git add --no-all" outlived their usefulness already, so
it may not be worth _fixing_ it.  But I am mildly opposed to spread
the earlier mistake to a new option.

I think that's a good place to end up: once we flip the default for
checkout, then --ignore-removal would be an obscure option in that
command as well.  The consistency with "git add" is just a bonus.

Thanks,
Jonathan