Re: [PATCH v3 7/8] checkout: introduce --{,no-}overlay option

From: Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>
Date: Jan 24, 2019, 01:12 UTC
Message-ID: <20190124011244.GE34357@google.com>
In-Reply-To: <xmqqzhrr9j52.fsf@gitster-ct.c.googlers.com>

Hi,

Junio C Hamano wrote:

> Thomas Gummerer <t.gummerer@gmail.com> writes:
>> Jonathan Nieder wrote:

Show 11 quoted lines

>>> Is this analogous to "git add --ignore-removal"?  If so, can we just
>>> call it --ignore-removal?
>>
>> Yes, it seems like they are very similar.
>
> Hmm, I am not sure if the word "removal" makes sense in the context
> of "checkout", as "removal" is an _action_ just like "checking out"
> itself is, and not a _state_.  You'd check out a state out of a tree
> to the index and the working tree, so "checking out absence of a
> path" may make sense, though, as "absence of a path" is a state
> recorded in that source tree object.

I find --ignore-removal fairly easy to understand, and I had no idea what --overlay would mean.

I realize this is just one user's experience. I'd be happy to do a little informal survey (e.g. taking the description from the manpage and asking people to name the option) if that's useful.

See also https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=32212 on this subject.

> The word "removal" makes little sense in "git add --ignore-removal",
> but it and "git add --no-all" outlived their usefulness already, so
> it may not be worth _fixing_ it.  But I am mildly opposed to spread
> the earlier mistake to a new option.

I think that's a good place to end up: once we flip the default for checkout, then --ignore-removal would be an obscure option in that command as well. The consistency with "git add" is just a bonus.

Thanks, Jonathan