Subject: Re: [PATCH 0/6] more automation for cover letter generation

From: Junio C Hamano <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 18 Apr 2009 11:31:31 -0700

Frank Terbeck <[email-masked]> writes:

> The following setup would suit me pretty well:
>
> [format]
>     coverletter = true
>     coveronepatch = false

Nobody wants a cover letter to a single patch, so a better way
would probably be:

	'yes' means default behaviour, that is add cover letter for
	multiple-patch series, non for a single patch;

	'no' means no cover; and

	'always' means a probably insane "cover even a single patch".

In any case, because this new feature is way too late to be in the
upcoming 1.6.3 release anyway, I think it is a saner approach to add a
command line option "--cover=yes" to "cover if multiple", "--cover=always"
to "cover even a single patch", and "--cover=no" to countermand a
configured "format.cover" the user may have in the configuration from the
command line.

>     overwritecoverletter = false

I do not think it is particularly a good idea, and it is a good idea to
have it in the configuration.

 - Why not protect the earlier patch output?  People often tweak messages
   (both above and below the three-dash lines) in them.

 - Isn't this pretty much per invocation?

I can understand (I may not be enthused about it) a new --clobber={yes,no}
command line option to allow/forbid clobbering the existing files, and you
may want to add --clobber=patches to allow clobbering only the patches but
not cover (which I do not think makes much sense, though).