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

From: Junio C Hamano <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2019 11:05:08 -0800

Jonathan Nieder <[email-masked]> writes:

> I'm nervous about the config with no associated warning or plan for
> phasing it out.

This was discussed long ago (in my panda-brain timescale) but my
recollection is to keep "checkout" default to the traditional
"overlay what was read from the tree on top of the current index"
behaviour, while the new "checkout-paths" subcommand (split from the
"checkout" subcommand to produce two subcommands, the other one
being the "checkout-branch" subcommand) would default to the new "no
overlay" behaviour.

So I am not sure if we even need a detailed transition plan.

If we were to make "checkout" pay attention to a local
configuration, that is a different story, as scripts that have
always assumed the overlay behaviour will be broken by such a
configuration variable.  But with the introduction of two new
subcommands in the picture to help interactive end users, I am not
sure if it is even worth considering to allow "checkout" to change
behaviour based on a configuration.  Those who want no-overlay
behaviour can switch to checkout-paths and be done with it, while
scripts can keep relying on the overlay behaviour, no?