Re: [PATCH] builtin/worktree.c: add option for setting worktree name

From: Eric Sunshine <sunshine@sunshineco.com>
Date: Jun 27, 2016, 23:11 UTC
Message-ID: <CAPig+cSEwib1iFyWE5h8-qTbsAC+zsaSDSYQnv6otWoOOjWAeA@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <A2F194FC-281D-44DF-88CA-E0B8221A3E68@brennie.ca>

On Mon, Jun 27, 2016 at 1:52 AM, Barret Rennie <barret@brennie.ca> wrote:

Show 15 quoted lines

> On Jun 26, 2016, at 5:00 PM, Eric Sunshine <sunshine@sunshineco.com> wrote:
>> One thing which hasn't been explained, and about which I'm still
>> confused even after reading this thread in its entirety, is what
>> Barret means when he says that he "breaks" his worktrees. What is the
>> nature of this breakage? Depending upon that answer, would "git
>> rev-parse --git-dir" be sufficient for your needs? Or, would "git
>> worktree list" be able to give you the desired information? (As
>> envisioned, "git worktree list" was intended to provide much more
>> information than it currently does, such as the .git/worktree dir
>> name, and such an enhancement might be welcome.)
>
> My worktree breakages are usually the result of my reorganizing my projects,
> usually because a branch changes name (for example, if branch release-1 gets
> pushed back to release-2). Then I go and rename all my directories and git
> gets unhappy and I have to manually fix them or re-create the worktrees.

Quoting from your earlier email justifying why you consider this patch desirable:

    ...when I break my worktrees and can’t figure out
    which worktree dir is the one I’ve broken.

But, doesn't "git rev-parse --git-dir" from within a "broken" worktree answer that question? Or, wouldn't an enhanced "git worktree list" answer the question from the opposite side?

> Having `git worktree list` give the worktree directory would be very useful,
> but I still would like the ability to change the name of a worktree.

My knee-jerk reaction is that the directory name under .git/worktrees is an implementation detail (and could easily have been an arbitrary ID, such as .git/worktrees/7ba84ec0) and rather than exposing it further and encouraging people to muck around in it manually, we should be providing higher-level solutions so that they don't have to.

Even without the higher-level solutions, it seems like "git rev-parse --git-dir" should satisfy your needs, and if someone enhances "git worktree list" to provide the additional worktree tag name (as envisioned all along), then you'd likewise have sufficient information to "fix" your worktrees.

As an example of higher-level solutions, Duy's "git worktree move" series[1] would, I think, be exactly what you need to avoid such breakage in the first place (assuming you can retrain your fingers or fix your scripts, if they are doing the worktree renaming).

I don't know how Duy and Junio feel about it, but my response to this patch and what it wants to accomplish (even with Junio's input) is fairly negative. I'd much rather see more missing high-level worktree features implemented rather than see patches further exposing git-worktree's internals.

[1]: http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/298194