Re: [PATCH 0/1] Improve automatic setup of tracking for new branches

From: Ben Boeckel <mathstuf@gmail.com>
Date: Jul 30, 2021, 17:45 UTC
Message-ID: <YQQ6xSlX+0LvBBWX@erythro.dev.benboeckel.internal>
In-Reply-To: <7b50ebc6-7b28-412d-b124-9bd54750c922@gmail.com>

On Fri, Jul 30, 2021 at 12:01:36 -0400, Philippe Blain wrote:

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> Hi again,
> 
> Le 2021-07-30 à 09:57, Ben Boeckel a écrit :
> > On Fri, Jul 30, 2021 at 09:35:39 -0400, Philippe Blain wrote:
> >> Le 2021-07-28 à 22:01, Ben Boeckel a écrit :
> >>
> >> Small nit: usually when sending a second version of a patch, you would use
> >> the '-v2' argument to 'git format-patch' so that the patch and cover letter
> >> is prefixed [PATCH v2].
> > 
> > Yes, I realized that I had forgotten the `--reroll-count=` argument when
> > making this patch (I suppose a way to store the Cc list for a topic
> > somewhere would be nice so I didn't lean so heavily on shell history
> > would help this).
> 
> There is 'format.cc', but it's not branch-specific, so you would have to
> use one worktree per branch with extension.worktreeConfig...

I suppose a `branch.<name>.cc` configuration might be in order :) . Though at that point, `branch.<name>.rerollCount` and `branch.<name>.sendEmailTo` also make sense…

More brainstorming below too.

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> > FWIW, my main gripe with the email-based workflow is the lack of
> > coordinated metadata (LWN has numerous comments by me about my views if
> > you're curious, but I should really formalize them into blog posts). But
> > when in Rome :) .
> 
> I agree. I almost always use Gitgitgadget [1], which keeps track of the CC list for
> me, of updating the re-roll count, of adding the in-reply-to header such that subsequent
> versions of the series are sent as a response to the cover letter of the previous version,
> generating a range-diff against the previous version,
> commenting on the PR when the series is mentioned in "What's cooking", etc.

That's nifty. I guess since I started here, things are a bit messy for this patch though?

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> Some things it does not support are: sending a patch as a response to some random
> mail on the list, which is sometimes useful, reading the commit notes to generate
> in-patch commentaries [2], customizing the diff generated by 'format-patch'.
> Other things are listed at [3].
> 
> Recently I've even been using only the terminal with Gitgitgadget:
> I use 'git branch --edit-description'
> to write my cover letter, and then use the 'gh' GitHub CLI to open my PR:

I think having `branch.<name>.coverLetter` and/or `branch.coverLetterDirectory` (defaulting to reading `<name>` or `<name>.txt`) to store the cover letter contents would be nice. I know I've blown away enough `0000-*.patch` edits with an ill-timed `git format-patch` before…

Forges could use this to hook in with their push options[1] through their wrappers or other tools.

--Ben

[1]https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/push_options.html#push-options-for-merge-requests