Re: [PATCH] builtin-remote: better handling of multiple remote HEADs

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Feb 14, 2009, 19:48 UTC
Message-ID: <7vy6w8sstp.fsf@gitster.siamese.dyndns.org>
In-Reply-To: <20090214185411.GA13121@coredump.intra.peff.net>

Jeff King <peff@peff.net> writes:

> Which made me think of something else, with all of this talk about
> reviewers that has been going on. Junio is actually in a little bit of a
> special position with small changes (like style issues) to say "I'll
> apply this, but tweak these changes".

It is not that I am special.

What is special is an otherwise obviously good patch with a few trivial mistakes that I can fix locally without worrying the fix-up may be wrong. It is not even per author, it is per patch, and it is a rare exception.

Often, I notice these things *after* I applied and reviewed the results, so it already is in my work area. I then judge the tradeoff between an extra round (which as you stated needs another fresh review, patch application and testing here) and the possibility that I may make a silly mistake myself while attempting a fix-up (such a mistake by me will not be seen on the list and others do not have chance to catch them).

For this reason, I try to keep these "will fix up no need for resend" to the minimum and only to the most trivial cases.

Show 11 quoted lines

> ... But the rest of us are stuck
> saying "I would change this one line" to the list; then either:
>
>   - the original submitter re-rolls the patch, which takes their time
>     and everyone else's time to look at the new patch, see that it is
>     trivially changed, etc
>
>     or
>
>   - Junio has to read the followup comments, then go back and find the
>     spot in the original patch to mark it up.

A third option is:

	"I would change this and that" review comment message, followed by
	a separate message "Here is how I would have done it", addressed
	To: the original submitter (with in-body From: line), Cc: to the
	list and me.

The original submitter can verify the latter one, and either agree to or disagree with it. If the reroll is good, then I can just pick it up. I think you have done that in the past yourself, and the process made my life a lot easier.