Re: [PATCH] grep: --full-tree

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Nov 25, 2009, 19:32 UTC
Message-ID: <7vr5rmwgbn.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org>
In-Reply-To: <fabb9a1e0911250656k31229c42jd79fb94c1a619e59@mail.gmail.com>

Sverre Rabbelier <srabbelier@gmail.com> writes:

> I almost always want only results from "app/soc", so when I run git
> grep I do so from within "app/soc" to make sure I don't get false
> positives from the many external sources we have.

The standard answer given by others has been "you can always say '.' at the end; having to remember/count number of ../ necessary is much much more inconvenient".

> PS: I don't mind having to set a config variable to keep the current
> behavior though.

I've thought about it for five seconds before sending my patch, but discarded it, because I do not see it as a good transition plan.

If it were something like "git-push", that is a purely Porcelain for causing _effect_ to outside world, the customizable behaviour of the command depending on which repository it is run is excusable and may even be beneficial.

But if a command like "grep" that "does one small thing and do it well" changes its behaviour drastically depending on a config variable or an environment variable, it won't be a command that you can rely upon any more in your scripts and hooks. It's the same insanity as GREP_OPTIONS environment variable.

So this change, if we were to do it, unfortunately has to be "we do it once and for everybody" a flag day event, I think. That is what I am not enthused about this patch.