Re: [RFC PATCH 1/2] add a --delete option to git push

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Aug 14, 2009, 07:51 UTC
Message-ID: <7v7hx6suiy.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org>
In-Reply-To: <7vab22ubr5.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org>

Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> writes:

Show 10 quoted lines

> I do not mean that this new feature is useless nor stupid.  Being able to
> say "git push --delete branch1 branch2" matches _a_ mental model (perhaps
> Hg inspired one) _very_ naturally.  There are branches on the other side,
> and there is a special operation called 'delete' that you can inflict on
> them.
>
> But it is a different mental model of how git natively does "push".
> ...
> These are both valid models.  They just do not mix, so let's avoid
> confusion by not allowing both at the same time.

One more thing. I suspect that adding --delete and nothing else probably makes things worse than not doing anything.

In a mental model where "push there --delete $branch" is natural, there are branches on the other side, and when you run 'push' command, you name the special operation, 'delete', that you would want to inflict on them.

In such a world, there probably are other (perhaps not so special) operations you can inflict on the branches on the other side as well. They are probably called something like:

	push there --create $branch $commit
	push there --update $branch $commit

If you give them only --delete without completing the vocabulary by giving these operations as well, you would force people to mix "git native" world model (i.e. there is no "mode" nor "opration"; there is only "list of instructions, each of which encodes the equivalent of 'mode'") with this Hg-inspired world model.