Re: [PATCH] contrib/hooks/post-receive-email: get description from repo.git/config

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: May 7, 2013, 15:15 UTC
Message-ID: <7vr4hilt28.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org>
In-Reply-To: <5188B165.3050709@alum.mit.edu>

Michael Haggerty <mhagger@alum.mit.edu> writes:

Show 13 quoted lines

> My understanding is that we are waiting on two things:
>
> 1. Consensus from the community.  I would characterize the feedback on
> the mailing list as limited in quantity but strongly positive [1-4] and
> I think that most/all of the wishes for post-receive-email features that
> were originally omitted from git-multimail have been implemented in the
> current version.  Some of the mailing list feedback was about earlier
> versions.  Do you want people to give feedback specifically about the
> current version?
>
> 2. For me to figure out what part of the git-multimail history I think
> should be included in the Git project, do any necessary repository
> rewriting, and submit a pull request to you.

Both are intertwined.

I was looking at the history of your project at GitHub. I got an impression that it is better to evolve as a standalone project with its own rich history, and the longer I looked at it, the more convinced I got that I shouldn't pull history from you.

As "batteries included" service for the end users, it may be convenient to have a copy of a stable release of the script in the contrib/ area, but I do not think if it is the best for the script to further develop it in my tree. I'd be just an unnecessary bottleneck.

I have a mildly strong suspicion that a better approach might be to:

 - Copy the current stable snapshot to the contrib/ area, but mark
   it clearly that the copy is merely for convenience, meant for end
   users who choose not to pull from your authoritative GitHub
   repository, and the real development happens elsewhere;

 - Keep the development at your GitHub repository, with you as the
   project lead.  People who are interested in evolving it gather
   and work there; and

 - Update what is in contrib/ in my tree with a stable snapshot,
   every once in a while (close to the release points of Git project
   or of MultiMail project).