Re: [PATCH] sha1_name(): accept ':directory/' to get at the cache_tree

From: Alex Riesen <fork0@t-online.de>
Date: Dec 22, 2006, 16:09 UTC
Message-ID: <20061222160944.GA4651@steel.home>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.4.63.0612221316550.19693@wbgn013.biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de>

Johannes Schindelin, Fri, Dec 22, 2006 13:18:55 +0100:

Show 21 quoted lines

> > > If the cache tree is not up-to-date, it will be updated first. So, now
> > > 
> > > 	$ git show :Documentation/
> > > 
> > > will in effect show what files/directories are in the index' version
> > > of the directory Documentation. The three commands
> > > 
> > > 	$ git show :./
> > > 	$ git show :.
> > > 	$ git show :
> > > 
> > > are all equivalent and show the index' idea of the root directory.
> > 
> > That is a bit unexpected if you're not in the root directory of
> > repository, but in some subdir of the working directory.
> > Why root? Why not the current directory relative to root?
> 
> Why root? Because you are not asking for the working directory. Use "ls" 
> for that. You are asking for the index. If you git-show a commit, you 
> don't expect the output to be restricted by the subdirectory you're in, 
> either, right?

Of course I do. You're breaking a very well-known and widely used idiom here: the "." means current or at least somehow related to the current directory. Why would you expect "git show :." to show everything from root on if your current directory is "Documentation"? Yes, it is a commit which "git show" displays, but the patches/diffs are restricted by filenames, and that is where the old rules come into play. And I would actually expect ":/" to filter from the root on, and ":." to mean the current directory.