From: Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason Date: Wed, 04 Aug 2010 19:07:06 GMT Subject: Re: Back-dating commits--way back--for constitution.git Message-ID: In-Reply-To: <4C599781.2020603@gmail.com> On Wed, Aug 4, 2010 at 16:38, Joel C. Salomon wrote: > On 08/02/2010 05:25 PM, Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason wrote: >> On Mon, Aug 2, 2010 at 18:32, Joel C. Salomon wrote: >>> I'd figured to play with Git in an unusual way: to create a repository >>> for the U.S. Constitution where amendments are presented as patches. >>> E.g., instead of the First Amendment being placed at the end (as is >>> usual) I'm putting it in Article 1, Section 9 (Limitations of Congress). >>> Proposed amendments get branches, which get merged in later. >> >> I'd like to ask where this project is being hosted. I've wanted to >> play with importing law into Git, and it would be interesting to >> follow this project. > > It's local to my machine for now, especially since I can't (yet?) get > the dates right. Also, I'm rebasing as I tweak the TeX code. > > Law-into-RCS has been on my mind since I learned out what RCSs are for. >  Read any bill that the US Congress passes: there's an intro, a whole > lot of boilerplate, and then: > > SEC. 101. EXTENSION OF CHIP. > >    Section 2104(a) (42 U.S.C. 1397dd(a)) is amended-- >            (1) in paragraph (10), by striking ``and'' at the end; >            (2) by amending paragraph (11), by striking ``each of >        fiscal years 2008 and 2009'' and inserting ``fiscal year >        2008''; and >            (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraphs: >            ``(12) for fiscal year 2009, $10,562,000,000; >            ``(13) for fiscal year 2010, $12,520,000,000; >            ``(14) for fiscal year 2011, $13,459,000,000; >            ``(15) for fiscal year 2012, $14,982,000,000; and >            ``(16) for fiscal year 2013, for purposes of making 2 semi- >        annual allotments-- >                    ``(A) $3,000,000,000 for the period beginning on >                October 1, 2012, and ending on March 31, 2013, and >                    ``(B) $3,000,000,000 for the period beginning on >                April 1, 2013, and ending on September 30, 2013.''. > > SEC. 102. ALLOTMENTS FOR STATES AND TERRITORIES FOR FISCAL YEARS 2009 >              THROUGH 2013. > >    Section 2104 (42 U.S.C. 1397dd) is amended-- >            (1) in subsection (b)(1), by striking ``subsection (d)'' >        and inserting ``subsections (d) and (m)''; >            (2) in subsection (c)(1), by striking ``subsection (d)'' >        and inserting ``subsections (d) and (m)(4)''; and >            (3) by adding at the end the following new subsection: > .... > > Sure looks like a patch series to me. Yeah, I think every legal system has their own ad-hoc patch convention like that. It can be really hard to figure it all out. Parsing that is non-trivial, but being able to generate diffs based on that would be a very valuable resource. >> There's some Icelandic law currently enacted that hasn't been changed >> since the 1200s. Getting that into Git would be interesting. > > Extremely. > > I'll put my Constitution project up on GitHub in a few days.  Just note > that I *will* rebase and publish. Great.