Re: [PATCH 5/5] config: add default aliases

From: Felipe Contreras <felipe.contreras@gmail.com>
Date: Jul 2, 2021, 21:12 UTC
Message-ID: <60df813938303_28bb208c8@natae.notmuch>
In-Reply-To: <3e82a574-fdcc-08b8-8fb5-1ff15f8ae564@mfriebe.de>

martin wrote:

Show 11 quoted lines

> On 02/07/2021 12:54, Felipe Contreras wrote:
> > martin wrote:
> >> IMHO it would be good to (partly) follow other vcs, and have
> >> commit = ci
> > I'm fine with leaving co out of the default aliases if it's deemed "too
> > controversial".
> >
> > But ci doesn't make sense. ci comes from "check in" which has no
> > similitude in git.
> svn uses it for "commit".
> It can be seen as CommIt.

I know, but it comes from CVS.

In both CVS and Subversion "commit" pushes a commit, so it can be seen as the opposite of "checkout", which pulls a commit.

That's not the case in git.

> But of course other letters can be picked. I don't see an advantage in 
> it though.

The advantage is that it's straightforward: co -> commit.

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> > I don't think it's a good idea to leave "git checkout" without an alias
> > (it's perhaps the second or third most used command), but at least some
> > aliases are better than no aliases.
> Well, that goes back to a bigger question. And from the brief time I 
> have been on this mail
> list, it appears to me there is a divide into 2 groups.

I'm on neither of those camps.

> If checkout is really meant to give way to switch/restore then it needs 
> no further
> advertising. And then the current usage statistics are a relict from the 
> before switch/restore time.

This is what I think eventually should happen, but we are not there yet.

If checkout were to disappear today, I wouldn't be able to do a lot of things. switch/restore are not ready yet.

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> If on the other hand checkout is not just to be kept for backward 
> compatibility, but should
> always remain an equal alternative to switch/restore (i.e. it should 
> still be taught to new
> user in 20 years) then it wants to have a default alias.

Why? Not all commands need an alias, only the most widely used. If switch/restore can be used for 99% of use cases (not the case today), then there's no need for checkout to have a default alias.

Of course if somebody wants to keep using checkout instead of switch/restore, they can add an alias themselves.

I'm on the camp of "let's see".

-- 
Felipe Contreras