Re: [RFC PATCH 1/2] add a --delete option to git push

From: Jeff King <peff@peff.net>
Date: Aug 14, 2009, 07:00 UTC
Message-ID: <20090814070021.GB7113@coredump.intra.peff.net>
In-Reply-To: <7vab22ubr5.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org>

On Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 11:53:50PM -0700, Junio C Hamano wrote:

Show 13 quoted lines

> I do not mean that this new feature is useless nor stupid.  Being able to
> say "git push --delete branch1 branch2" matches _a_ mental model (perhaps
> Hg inspired one) _very_ naturally.  There are branches on the other side,
> and there is a special operation called 'delete' that you can inflict on
> them.
> 
> But it is a different mental model of how git natively does "push".  In
> git model, you give list of instructions <which branch to update with what
> commit>, and as a special case "what commit" could be "empty" to signal
> deletion, and "push" carries out the instructions.
> 
> These are both valid models.  They just do not mix, so let's avoid
> confusion by not allowing both at the same time.

Thank you for succintly explaining what I was trying to put my finger on elsewhere in the thread. To sum up what I was trying to say:

I don't have anything against the "delete mode" mental model, but I don't have a particular use for it. My counter-proposal was "syntactic sugar without changing the mental model". Between the two, I don't have a strong feeling (and my "this is wrong" comments were about where you had mixed the two, and I think you agreed with them).

-Peff