Re: [PATCH] Wait for git diff to finish in git difftool

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Apr 23, 2009, 14:51 UTC
Message-ID: <7vhc0fv2xb.fsf@gitster.siamese.dyndns.org>
In-Reply-To: <81b0412b0904230252k3e8197d3y8798d5b797a49c39@mail.gmail.com>

Alex Riesen <raa.lkml@gmail.com> writes:

Show 15 quoted lines

>>> In plain words: please don't apply MY patches with words "Windows"
>>> or "Cygwin" in message body, unless I beg you to (and even then,
>>> consider me heavily drugged).
>>
>> Hmm, what's the point then for me to spend time looking at them posted on
>> the list?
>
> None. But it still would be nice if you look at them when you're addressed
> directly. Please understand, maybe I'm abusing the list a little, but it looks
> like the best place to _archive_ the workarounds for this obscure platform.
> The code is of little use to general public, but in case one finds himself
> in the same situation as I am in, at least Google can help out. I think it
> happens too rare to justify your looking at them, and especially including
> them in the mainline, but hiding the code on my laptop isn't of any use
> to anyone (including me: I don't always have that laptop).

Actually, I think I probably should have phrased it more positively.

Do you think you are in a so minority situation that your "workarounds" are valuable for nobody else? Apparently you see value in letting them finding your patches in the archive, so you do not expect them to be "nobody else" but rather "a small minority".

People on minority platforms have smaller number of people in similar situation to ask help from than people on mainstream platforms, and they suffer from the minority status of their platforms not only with git but about many other things. Worse, their chance of finding solution by digging the archive is smaller, and they would need to spend a lot more time, than the people on other platforms. And you know this a lot better than I do ;-).

Even though the suffering of these people as a whole may not be much, only because there are small number of them, as individuals they may suffer a lot. If we can help them without having to bend over backwards too much, it would be a good thing. I think we should at least try.

For example, I do not think conversion from Perl exec() to Perl system() is worsening the code in any way in difftool. Sure, it won't *improve* things for general majority of people, but as long as it does not hurt people (that includes me and others who pay maintenance cost), I do not think we should just bury the patch in archive or in your laptop.