Subject: Re: What's in git.git (stable)

From: Andy Parkins <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 10:21:11 +0000

On Thursday 2006 December 14 00:22, Johannes Schindelin wrote:

> >  * git-revert should be called git-invert.  It doesn't remove a change
> >    from history, it simply applies another commit that does the
> >    opposite of whatever commit you are "revert"ing.  That's an inversion.
>
> No. An inversion is the _opposite_. Not an undo.

That's what I'm saying, we are applying the opposite of the given commit - 
that commit is being inverted and applied again.  It most certainly isn't an 
undo, because the original commit still exists.  It's not a reversion 
because "reversion" is to regress to a previous time or state.  In that sense 
git-revert is not doing what it says on the tin.  A revert would be to remove 
all the revisions from now until the specified commit - i.e. what git-reset 
now does.

(Note: I don't think git-reset should be renamed, as it's possible to use 
git-reset to move a branch forward as well as backward).

> Besides, The fact that revert _adds_ to history is a nice way to
> document that you reverted that change. And you can even explain in the
> commit message, why you did it.

I'm not disputing that the /operation/ is useful, I'm arguing that it is 
incorrectly named.

> IMHO it is better for a newbie to see that _something_ is happening. A

I'm not arguing that we should show nothing; I'm arguing that the something we 
do show should be more clear than what is now shown.  The choice is 
therefore "show something confusing" or "show something clear".

> newbie cannot, and does not want to, understand exactly what is going on.

"newbie" doesn't mean "idiot".  Everybody wants to understand what is going 
on.

> So, think of it as our response to Windows' non-progress-bar: when you
> start up Windows, there is a progress-bar, except that it does not show
> progress, but a Knight Rider like movement, only indicating that it does
> something.

Given the choice between nothing and a non-progress "doing something" bar, I 
would of course pick the "doing something" bar.  However, given the choice 
between a "doing something" bar and a progress bar, I'd rather have the 
progress bar.

Andy
-- 
Dr Andy Parkins, M Eng (hons), MIEE