Re: [PATCH] git checkout -b: unparent the new branch with -o

From: Erick Mattos <erick.mattos@gmail.com>
Date: Feb 24, 2010, 22:27 UTC
Message-ID: <55bacdd31002241427w2b160614vd1a5977d1820984b@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <7viq9nfwg8.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org>

Thanks for the fast response. Your level of commitment to this project is awesome!

2010/2/23 Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>

Show 10 quoted lines

>
> >       git checkout -ob debian
> >       git clean -df
> >       mkdir Debian
> >       add all control files
> >       ...hack it enough...
> >       git add Debian
> >       git commit
>
> I do not think that is a good example.

Well it is just an example. Its intention is to show some practical data about this proposition.

Show 17 quoted lines

> If you have an extract of an upstream tarball, say frotz-1.42.tar.gz, and
> you are not porting anything older than that version, why not have two
> branches, frotz and master, and do things this way?
>
>  - frotz (or "vanilla" or "upstream") that keeps track of the "vendor
>   drop" without debian/ directory;
>
>  - master that forks from frotz and adds "debian/" and nothing else; and
>
>  - any other topic branches that either fork from frotz if you are fixing
>   upstream bug (or enhancing the vanilla version), or fork from master if
>   you are fixing or enhancing the debianization.
>
> When you receive frotz-1.43.tar.gz, you will advance 'frotz' branch with
> it, and probably fork maint-1.42 branch from master so that you can keep
> supporting older debianized frotz, while merging frotz into master so that
> you can prepare a debianized version of newer package.

The main point here is not the way one prefers to work. It is to let one works the way one wants. In other words: give more versatility to what is already working fine.

> Your debianization will _never_ be totally independent of the vendor
> version, so there is no good reason to have it as a rootless branch.

In matter of fact, mine, personally, is. Please follow: I normally hack software I want to add features I feel is lacking. As a Debian user when I compile it at last to install my version I always do Debian packages so to let APT do its works. As I like not to reinvent the wheel I normally extract the Debian folder from the normal repository packages.

So after a while I just have in a separate Debian branch the commit 1.5, 1.6, .... In case I have to change the Debian files then I will have my commits spread in the middle of this branch.

But as what I had pictured before was a general approach then or you could be right on your example work flow or separating it could be better or whatever! It was just an example.

All commits I post are stuff I use which, following free software ideology, I just want to share so other people could use it too. I know how limited my efforts are to a project like git. A project like that needs people really involved and pro-active like you. But even being a small contributor I really like to contribute because I think the approach of free software community is the best for all and it should be supported by everyone who cares.

I hope some day we could find a way to spread this ideology to everything else in our society. Working just to make things better for no other direct reason; communitarian development; freedom and demo/meritocracy; ... :-)

Sorry for writing too much.

Regards.