From: H. Peter Anvin <hpa@zytor.com>
Date: Wed, 04 May 2005 15:45:36 GMT
Subject: Re: commit-id fails after cg-init
Message-ID: <4278EE20.8080004@zytor.com>
In-Reply-To: <4278E6D4.6060807@dwheeler.com>

David A. Wheeler wrote:
> Joel Becker said:
> 
>> Well, cg-init in this case creates no objects.  I'd say,
>> instead, it should create an empty tree object (representing a project
>> with no files) and commit that.  That would be your initial commit, and
>> would put something valid in heads/master.
> 
> That would actually make sense; commits would go all the way
> back to the "empty tree" as the ultimate initial tree.
> 
> There's an interesting side-effect of this; I _think_ it's
> fine but it might be worth thinking through. If all
> new projects start with an empty tree, that creates a
> "common root" that all projects can appeal to.
> That means that in theory a merge between any two project root
> trees can eventually find a common ancestor: the empty tree.
> I _think_ that's okay... is it?
> 

In fact, I think that's a Very Good Thing... it eliminates an 
unnecessary corner case.  Same reason linked lists want head nodes and 
all that jazz.

	-hpa