Re: What's cooking in git.git (topics)

From: Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>
Date: Apr 24, 2007, 21:41 UTC
Message-ID: <7vwt014fib.fsf@assigned-by-dhcp.cox.net>
In-Reply-To: <81b0412b0704240858w6121430fj624582539f14ceee@mail.gmail.com>

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

Show 9 quoted lines

> On 4/23/07, Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net> wrote:
>> ...
>> That's one of the reasons why only the filter names are assigned
>> to paths using gitattributes mechanism and what action to take
>> when a specific filter name is attached to a path is determined
>> by the config.  Missing filter driver definition in the config
>> is not an error but makes the filter a no-op passthru.
>
> Fragile. What if content is useless without filter?

In that case, the project screwed itself and it is not our problem anymore ;-).

Show 5 quoted lines

>> The content filtering is to massage the content into a shape
>> that is more convenient for the platform/filesystem/the user to
>> use.  The keyword here is "more convenient" and not "usable"; in
>
> how can "not usable" be "more convenient"?

I think I worded it incorrectly to be misunderstood, but I couldn't word them better then, I do not know I can word them better now.

Something could be 1. unusable, or 2. usable. Among usable shapes, there are 2-a. inconvenient but usable and 2-b. very convenient to use.

What I tried to say was that if you use filtering mechanism to massage contents that is unusable into usable (i.e. crossing from 1 to 2), you are already misusing the mechanism (but we do not prevent you because we are only "giving you a long rope"). The filter is meant to be used to cross from 2-a to 2-b.