Re: git-svn: Branching clarifications

From: David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org>
Date: Sep 8, 2007, 06:57 UTC
Message-ID: <85r6l9zlt4.fsf@lola.goethe.zz>
In-Reply-To: <20070908052126.GB28855@soma>

Eric Wong <normalperson@yhbt.net> writes:

> git-svn sets "master" to the most recently committed-to branch
> in SVN the first time it fetches.  "git-log master" will tell
> you (look at the git-svn-id: lines).

Sigh. Another "surprise the user by an arbitrary looking choice that might possibly correspond to what he wants done because it something obscure in the commit history suggests so" design decision.

I don't want my master set according to something that a coworker (or even myself) happened to commit last to.

Please. git-svn is told how to find the trunk on its command line. Nothing makes sense (short of an _explicit_ wish otherwise for which it might make sense to create a command line option) than to map master to the trunk.

As a design rule: don't second-guess the user, _ever_, and particularly not on decisions with large consequences. A tool should not have a mind of its own but do what it is told. And if it can't figure out what it is told, by simple, user-understandable criteria, barf. And of course have a way to _direct_ it when it can't figure it out on its own, or if the simple and obvious default would not do the right thing.

-- 
David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum