Re: email as a bona fide git transport

From: Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>
Date: Oct 16, 2019, 20:57 UTC
Message-ID: <20191016205736.GA259536@google.com>
In-Reply-To: <b9fb52b8-8168-6bf0-9a72-1e6c44a281a5@oracle.com>

Hi,

A few small points.

Vegard Nossum wrote:

> * git am (or an alternative command) needs to recreate the commit
>   perfectly when applied, including applying it to the correct parent

Interesting. "git format-patch" has a --base option to do some of what you're looking for, for the sake of snowpatch <https://github.com/ruscur/snowpatch>. Though it's not exactly the same thing you mean.

We also discussed sending merge commits by mail recently in the virtual git committer summit[1].

Of course, the devil is in the details. It's straightforward to use "git bundle" to use mail as a Git transport today, but presumably you also want the ability to perform reviews along the way and that's not so easy with a binary format. Do you have more details on what you'd want the format to look like, particularly for merge commits?

[...]

>                                                                 there
> is no need for "changeset IDs" or whatever, since you can just use the
> git SHA1 which is unique, unambiguous, and stable.

In [2] the hope was for some identifier that is preserved by "git rebase" and "git commit --amend" (so that you can track the evolution of a change as the author improves it in response to reviews). Is that the conversation you're alluding to?

[...]

> Disadvantages:
>
> - requires patching git

That's not a disadvantage. It means get to work with the Git project, which is a welcoming bunch of people, working on userspace (seeing how the other half lives), and improving the lives of everyone using Git.

[...]

> Date: Sat, 5 Oct 2019 16:15:59 +0200
> Subject: [PATCH 1/3] format-patch: add --complete
>
> Include the raw commit data between the changelog and the diffstat.

Oh! I had missed this on first reading because it was in an attachment.

I have mixed feelings. Can you say a bit more about the advantages and disadvantages relative to sending a git bundle? What happens if a mail client or a box along the way mangles whitespace in the commit message?

Happy hacking, Jonathan

[1] https://public-inbox.org/git/nycvar.QRO.7.76.6.1909261253400.15067@tvgsbejvaqbjf.bet/ [2] https://lore.kernel.org/ksummit-discuss/CAD=FV=UPjPpUyFTPjF-Ogzj_6LJLE4PTxMhCoCEDmH1LXSSmpQ@mail.gmail.com/