Re: [PATCH] Add option to git-commit to allow empty log messages

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Apr 5, 2010, 05:27 UTC
Message-ID: <7vsk7apiyt.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org>
In-Reply-To: <buor5mu7acd.fsf@dhlpc061.dev.necel.com>

Miles Bader <miles@gnu.org> writes:

Show 9 quoted lines

> Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> writes:
>> As a Porcelain, "git commit" has some leeway to enforce sensible policy on
>> the users, and "forbid commit that does not explain anything" is one such
>> policy.  It is not generally a good idea to expose the full capabilities
>> of plumbing to Porcelain if it leads to bad user behaviour, and such
>> "artificial" limitations are safety features we do not want to remove.
>
> Isn't the requirement of using a longish option like
> "--allow-empty-message" enough of a warning to users though?

Yes, but re-read the part you omitted from your quote, where Ævar makes it sound as if exposing plumbing's flexibility to the Porcelain layer is unconditionally a good thing. My point is it never is.

And as you said (and as Sverre alluded to with his --allow-empty), longish option is one way to ensure that we do not unconditionally expose flexibility from the plumbing without thinking.