Subject: Re: What's cooking in git.git (Dec 2010, #01; Sat, 4)

From: Yann Dirson <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 06 Dec 2010 12:31:36 +0100

On Mon, 06 Dec 2010 18:13:06 +0900
Miles Bader <[email-masked]> wrote:

> On Mon, Dec 6, 2010 at 5:48 PM, Yann Dirson <[email-masked]> wrote:
> it's is normal and good that option names are sometimes revisited and
> improved -- nothing is perfect on the first try.  By keeping the old
> option around as a deprecated alias, we avoid compatibility issues.

... except Junio advocates *not* deprecating this one, since it is here
since ages.

> That doesn't mean there aren't _any_ issues, but they tend to be
> pretty minor  (such as the "space used by the deprecation option" that
> you complain about).
> 
> Maybe if you renamed every option simultaneously, there would be
> confusion, but seriously, it's only one option.  It's not going to be
> a problem.

I'm not sure we want to use "it's only one option" as an excuse.  It
can easily become a bad habit.

> There is no "usability" problem.

Completion of "git diff --<TAB>" in stable branch gives 44 choices here.
One of the most frequent criticisms about git I hear among coworkers is
that there are so many commands and options.  Will be funny to explain
them that "we just added another one, for no technical reason".

-- 
Yann Dirson - Bertin Technologies