Re: Breaking expectations in 1.7.0, was Re: What's cooking in git.git (Nov 2009, #06; Wed, 25)

From: Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>
Date: Nov 27, 2009, 15:33 UTC
Message-ID: <20091127153349.GA24647@progeny.tock>
In-Reply-To: <alpine.DEB.1.00.0911271536100.4521@intel-tinevez-2-302>

Johannes Schindelin wrote:

Show 5 quoted lines

> I recently read more and more about 1.7.0 being expected to break 
> expectations, and more and more expectations about more and more being 
> expected to be broken there.
> 
> This is a very slippery slope.  You have been warned.

I was trained by 1.6.0 and 1.5.0, I guess. I think it would be hard to argue that 1.5.0 breaking compatibility in some places (the behavior of 'git add', for example) was a bad thing. I also liked the major 1.6.0 change, but I did have the benefit of being warned far in advance.

Of course, the best break with compatibility is the one that does not break expectations.

I’m on the fence about the default git grep behavior for that reason. I think --full-tree really would be a better default. Every once in a while, I really do find myself wondering why git grep has not given me the results I expected; it can take a moment to remember that this is because I am in a subdirectory. But it is not clear it is worth the change.

Am I right to infer you are less conflicted about this, or was it just a good opportunity to bring to mind that important principle?

Jonathan