Re: [Gnu-arch-users] BUG: extra diff arguments for "tla changes --diffs"]

[James Blackwell]

Aaron Bentley wrote:
>> > Since tla changes --diffs works by calcuating a changeset and then then 
>> > printing the contents of the diff files to stdout, this would require 
>> > producing a changeset with non-standard contents.  I'm not entirely 
>> > opposed to this, but it would need to be done carefully.
>> 

> On Tue, Aug 24, 2004 at 03:33:54PM -0400, James Blackwell wrote:
>> Ouch. Somehow I forgot thats how changes --diffs works. 
>> 
>> Yeah. Thats a bad idea.
 
Miles wrote:
> Please say _why_ it's a bad idea, i.e. give an example of how someone might
> be screwed by this.

Its a bad idea because that opens us up to the risk that people will
generate and start passing around changesets that aren't portable. I
think a changeset should be a changeset should be a changeset. *very*
predictable and stable.

> Changesets with `non standard' diff contents are _not_ invalid (unapplyable)
> changesets unless you use particular options that make the diff contents
> unusable by `patch' (e.g., a non-context, non-unified diff) -- and those
> options are uncommonly used; tla could even enforce it with not much problem.

All the same, I don't like opening up this path because it can (hence,
eventually WILL) open up a support problem of "why doesn't this
changeset work?"

> The main time you want to avoid any changeset non-standardness is when doing
> a commit, and since it always makes its own changesets, it can just be extra
> picky; there's no reason to make `changes' be similarly picky.

Shrug. I don't think its worth it.

-- 
James Blackwell          Try something fun: For the next 24 hours, give
Smile more!              each person you meet a compliment!

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