Re: [RFC] origin link for cherry-pick and revert

From: Stephen R. van den Berg <srb@cuci.nl>
Date: Sep 11, 2008, 19:23 UTC
Message-ID: <20080911192356.GC1451@cuci.nl>
In-Reply-To: <alpine.LFD.1.10.0809110835070.3384@nehalem.linux-foundation.org>

Linus Torvalds wrote:

>On Thu, 11 Sep 2008, Stephen R. van den Berg wrote:
>> >delete of the origin branch will basically make them unreachable.

>> False.

>Stephen, here's a f*cking clue:
> - I know how git works.

I'd presume you do, but that doesn't mean you always accurately express yourself.

>> If you fetch just branches A, B and C, but not D, the origin link from A
>> to D is dangling.  Once you have fetched D as well [..]

>So I just said we deleted beanch 'D', so there's no way to ever fetch it 
>again.

You did not state you deleted branch 'D' on the repository being fetched *FROM*. I assumed you meant you deleted branch 'D' on the repository doing the fetching (after having fetched 'D' in the past).

>Get it?

"You stupid git".

Show 5 quoted lines

>The fact is, a big part of git is temporary branches. It's one of the 
>*best* features of git. Throw-away stuff. Those throw-away branches are 
>often done for initial development, and then the final result is often a 
>cleaned-up version. Often using rebase or cherry-picking or any number of 
>things.

Indeed, features I value in git very much, and use every day, thanks.

[...portions of man git-cherry-pick stripped...]

>Can you not understand that? The "origin" field is _garbage_. It's garbage 
>for all normal cases. The original commit will not ever even EXIST in the 
>result, because it has long since been thrown away and will never exist 
>anywhere else.

The origin field will *not* be created on regular cherry-picks, this *would* create garbage. The origin field is not meant to be generated when doing things with temporary branches. The origin field is meant to be filled *ONLY* when cherry-picking from one permanent branch to another permanent branch. This is a *rare* operation.

>Garbage should be _avoided_, not added.

Quite.

I do understand that "normal cases" in your case mean cherry-picks among temporary branches. Well, you are completely right that *your* normal cases should not (and will not) generate an origin field. The origin field is intended for the *abnormal* cases, which means cherry-picking between permanent branches (which, apparently, you rarely do, if ever), this is something that (depending on your workflow) can be a more frequent event. For *those* cases, the origin field will not contain garbage.

-- 
Sincerely,
           Stephen R. van den Berg.
"There are three types of people in the world;
 those who can count, and those who can't."