Subject: Re: [PATCH] allow user aliases for the --author parameter

From: Alex Riesen <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2008 19:49:16 +0200

Alex Riesen, Thu, Aug 21, 2008 19:41:18 +0200:
> Michael J Gruber, Thu, Aug 21, 2008 11:19:41 +0200:
> > This allows the use of author abbreviations when specifying commit
> > authors via the --author option to git commit. "--author=$key" is
> > resolved by looking up "user.$key.name" and "user.$key.email" in the
> > config.
> 
> Isn't there existing well-known formats for mail aliases?
> For instance, Mutt uses simple text file:
> 
>     alias nickname1 Author Name <mail@address>
>     alias nickname2 "Author Name 2" <mail2@address>
> 
> I don't know how well-known this is, but is surely more known than
> git's config (and there are aliases in that format already).
> Maybe just reference such files in git's config?
> 

Oh, and you may consider using .mailmap files (look into the Git's
one for example): the user part of mail address is very often a good
alias (and sometimes famous nickname) of a person: junio, tytso,
davem, alan, viro, hpa... You'll have to define some rules for
duplications, of course (first wins seems to be popular).