Re: [RFC] Proof of concept: Support multiple authors

From: Cornelius Schumacher <schumacher@kde.org>
Date: Jan 31, 2017, 00:54 UTC
Message-ID: <3204990.cGxpkETTLk@linux-7ekr>
In-Reply-To: <xmqqinowuvd7.fsf@gitster.mtv.corp.google.com>

On Monday 30 January 2017 12:48:52 Junio C Hamano wrote:

> 
>   https://public-inbox.org/git/?q=gmane:83880
>   https://public-inbox.org/git/?q=gmane:146223
>   https://public-inbox.org/git/?q=gmane:146886

Thanks for putting the links together. That's very useful as a reference.

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> The older discussions already cited the cost to update both in-tree
> and out-of-tree tools not to barf when they see such a commit object
> and one of the reason why we would not want to do this, and Ted Ts'o
> gave us another excellent reason why not to do multiple author
> header lines in a commit object header, i.e. "How often is that all
> of the authors are completely equal?"

Just to give a bit of context: In the pair programming environment where I work we usually use non-personalized workstations and switch the keyboard between the two people working together quite frequently, sometimes every few minutes, or even within writing a commit message. There the person pressing the return button on the commit really does not have a special role. In this style of working I think it feels like the fairest and most practical assumption to treat all authors as equal.

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> My advice to those who want to record credit to multiple authors is
> to treat the commit author line as recording the primary contact
> when there is a question on the commit and nothing else.  Anything
> with richer semantics is better done in the trailer by enriching the
> support of trailer lines with interpret-trailers framework.

Thanks for the advice. I think I will explore this direction a little bit further and see how handling a situation of multiple authors could be better done in this framework.

-- 
Cornelius Schumacher <schumacher@kde.org>