Re: [PATCH] graph.c: visual difference on subsequent series

From: Milton Soares Filho <milton.soares.filho@gmail.com>
Date: Oct 28, 2013, 17:18 UTC
Message-ID: <CAPNngRMprE3QwDn3y74QqitAs+-DCBm1oO33uKRHsn9jLrNSnA@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <xmqqeh75h087.fsf@gitster.dls.corp.google.com>

On 28 October 2013 13:41, Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> wrote:

> I agree to all of the above, including the ugliness of 'x' ;-)
>
> A "blank" may however be hard to spot, if the range is limited,
> though.  For example,

A 'x' looks like termination points in some specification languages such as SDL and MSC and thus translates directly to the idea of a root-commit, at least IMO. For sure it does not stand out as blatantly as it should, but it gives a general idea without further distractions, which seems to be the idea of a simple 'git log --graph --oneline'.

An idea that have just come to mind is to have a decorator to enforce this property, like this.

      * HEAD
     /* a1
    | * a2
    | * a3
    | x a4 (root-commit)
    * b1
    * b2
    x b3  (root-commit)

This way the user only gets 'distracted' if he explicitly asks for it (--decorate), with all its colors and whatnot. What do you think? Should I aim for it?

Besides anything else, this discussion is becoming very subjective. I've received private feedbacks thanking for the changeset and not a word against the poor 'x'. Maybe it's time to talk to a UI designer or let a benevolent dictator set this quarrel off ;-)

[]s, milton