Re: [PATCH] merge-file: warn for implicit 'myers' algorithm

From: Elijah Newren <newren@gmail.com>
Date: Jul 5, 2024, 17:39 UTC
Message-ID: <CABPp-BEspjHqNXSAwptgxP059qOFU6MzwAd23-893Nw99ft_Ew@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <xmqqr0ca9qkj.fsf@gitster.g>

On Wed, Jul 3, 2024 at 1:24 PM Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> wrote:

Show 14 quoted lines

>
> Antonin Delpeuch <antonin@delpeuch.eu> writes:
>
> > I'm really sorry, I thought the switch of default and migration
> > plan had already been agreed on in our discussion of my earlier
> > patch.
>
> Ahh, OK.
>
> So we did some time ago floated the idea.  I do not remember how
> widely accepted the proposal was, though.  Having a such reference
> and an explicit mention of what we have and not have yet reached
> consensus on (either in cover letter or after the three-dash line)
> would have been very much helpful.

There's been a few discussions, the other most recent one I remember was the thread over at https://lore.kernel.org/git/Y+zzh80fybq8Tn66@coredump.intra.peff.net/. (And beyond the git community, there's https://lkml.org/lkml/2023/5/7/206 in the kernel community, and if others know of discussions in other large developer communities I'd be interested in links.)

The previous discussions felt to me like we were moving towards consensus, but while I found that encouraging since I think histogram would eventually be a better default, I did not make any actual proposals and try to push further towards consensus because there are a couple known issues that I think should be fixed before we consider flipping the default. I have some work-in-progress that was put on the backburner a few years ago that I would like to pick up again, and if successful, investigate how much that helps general cases in a format that can help people make educated decisions, and then again float the idea of changing the default. If consensus is reached, then we'd change the default across the board -- diff/log/merge-file/etc. rather than just the somewhat rarely used merge-file. At least, that's my current plan in this area; if others think I should investigate things in a different order or would like to see additional steps planned into this journey, please do let me know.