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Re: [PATCH] alias: restore support for simple dotted aliases

From
Jonatan Holmgren <jonatan@jontes.page>
Date
Apr 26, 2026, 19:21 UTC
Message-ID
<4a130a23-fa32-460b-a338-409d85d18166@jontes.page>
In-Reply-To
<20260425232916.GA29816@coredump.intra.peff.net>
I see the appeal of the overlapping-namespace approach for maximum compat.

My hesitation is that it introduces a config model where a single key (`alias.foo.bar`) no longer has a clear interpretation, but instead is implicitly treated as both a historical alias and structured data. That feels harder to reason about and document.

For the regression, I would lean toward a narrower compatibility rule: restore dotted aliases except where they collide with explicitly recognized structured keys (currently `command`). That keeps behavior predictable while still fixing the breakage.

If we want to grow metadata in the future, it might be better to make that expansion explicit at that point rather than baking in ambiguity now.

I think the worst outcome from this thread would be moving the new alias syntax into a different namespace entirely (e.g., `nalias`). If namespace cleanliness is the priority, reserving `command` and `alias-*` still seems like the best path forward to me.

One question: do we consider the historical dotted aliases something we want to preserve indefinitely, or just something to transition away from? My assumption has been that they were an accidental side-effect of the config parsing rather than a designed feature, but I agree they are now part of existing workflows and need to be handled carefully.

Previous: Jeff KingNext: Jeff King
Message 13 of 18 in “Bug: Hierarchical Aliases no longer work in 2.54.0”
  1. Grossfeld, MichaelApr 23, 2026
  2. Jeff KingApr 23, 2026
  3. Michael GrossfeldApr 23, 2026
  4. René ScharfeApr 23, 2026
  5. Michael GrossfeldApr 23, 2026
  6. Jonatan HolmgrenApr 24, 2026
  7. alias: restore support for simple dotted aliasesJonatan Holmgren, Apr 24, 2026
  8. Kristoffer HaugsbakkApr 24, 2026
  9. Junio C HamanoApr 24, 2026
  10. Jonatan HolmgrenApr 25, 2026
  11. Jeff KingApr 25, 2026
  12. Jeff KingApr 25, 2026
  13. Jonatan HolmgrenApr 26, 2026
  14. Jeff KingApr 26, 2026
  15. Jonatan HolmgrenApr 27, 2026
  16. Junio C HamanoMay 12, 2026
  17. Jeff KingMay 19, 2026
  18. alias: restore support for simple dotted aliasesJonatan Holmgren, Apr 24, 2026

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