[Gnu-arch-users] Re: minor extension to arch protocol

[Miles Bader]

Colin Walters <address@hidden> writes:
> > Because it's not useless in {arch} (how many times does it have to
> > be said?).
> 
> If it's not useless, then what is it useful for?  The only other
> rationale I have heard for it being used in {arch} is that it
> differentiates tagging-method from a project archive

Yes, it's a namespace issue.

> but there's a
> better solution, and that's to simply put the project archives in their
> own directory.  Directories were created to solve namespace problems.

Then what will the directory be called?  The directory would have the
same namespace problem as =tagging-method.  You could call it
=DIR-NAME/tagging-method, but would that be any better?

The only way I can see to solve this is to move the conflicting
namespace (all the alphanumeric dirs) into a subdir, but that would be a
more drastic change.

> And that justification only applies to {arch} - the fact that = is used
> in other places makes me suspect that there is some nominal rationale
> behind it, although as far as I can tell it's mostly random (why is it
> =INSTALL but not =COPYING?  Why not =src?  Why not =configure?)  If the
> rationale is not sorting order (as you assert), then what is it?  

Sure, it has a history (I guess), and I have no more clue than you about
the `meaning' of = in the above uses -- but in the case of {arch}, it's
very clear.

> =tagging-method is clearly in the user portion, since it needs to be
> edited in order to make tla even able to commit anything for my
> projects.

It's a user-editable file, but it's in a namespace dictated by arch.
That's what's important (=INSTALL, etc., are in the `whatever the hell
you want as long as it's not {arch}' namespace).

-Miles
-- 
97% of everything is grunge