Re: What's in a name? Let's use a (uuid,name,email) triplet

From: Michael Witten <mfwitten@gmail.com>
Date: Mar 19, 2010, 12:08 UTC
Message-ID: <b4087cc51003190508m3651e929w2dc16156a84d09f@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <alpine.DEB.2.00.1003190441530.3821@asgard.lang.hm>

On Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 05:45,  <david@lang.hm> wrote:

Show 50 quoted lines

> On Fri, 19 Mar 2010, Michael Witten wrote:
>
>> On Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 02:41, Michael Haggerty <mhagger@alum.mit.edu>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Michael Witten wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Rather than use a (name,email) pair to identify people, let's use
>>>> a (uuid,name,email) triplet.
>>>> [...]
>>>
>>> A UUID doesn't need to be a big hex number.  All it has to be is a
>>> "Universally Unique Identifier".  Like, oh, for example, your
>>>
>>>                   *** EMAIL ADDRESS ***
>>>
>>> [1].  There is even already a way to fix up mistakes or unavoidable
>>> email address changes, namely the .mailmap file.
>>
>> *facepalm*
>>
>> You've just repeated everything that I've said; go look at the rest of
>> the thread, where I spend plenty of time correcting the same hangups
>> about my choice of the word UUID and my use of hex digits.
>>
>> I'm only observing that the current name/email system pair conflates
>> an individual with his current email system and that it would be
>> worthwhile to ALLOW an individual to FURTHER describe himself by
>> including another piece of information that is solely meant as
>> identification within git. That piece of information could be whatever
>> a user deems to be uniquely identifying for himself. You could use
>> "Michael Haggerty <mhagger@alum.mit.edu>" as your uuid, and you could
>> still use it after you change the `email' config variable to something
>> else.
>>
>> There is MUCH LESS CHANCE of such a uuid getting trashed by typos,
>> changing names, and changing email addresses; of course it can still
>> get messed up, but the rate at which something like .mailmap would
>> need to be updated would likely be greatly decreased and it would make
>> gathering statistics easier (especially for the individuals who take
>> advantage of such a uuid for describing themselves---and it only
>> requires setting one config variable to something easily remembered by
>> that person).
>
> here is where you are missing the point.
>
> no, there is not 'much less chance' of it getting messed up.
>
> you seem to assume that people would never need to set the UUID on multiple
> machines.

I covered that in the first email, highlighting the importance of using an easily remembered, already reasonably unique piece of information (like a name/email pair) that you don't need to change.

> if they don't need to set it on multiple machines, then the e-mail/userid is
> going to be reliable anyway

The problem is that the name/email pair (as in the 'name' and 'email' config variables) is NOT ONLY subject to typos, but it is ALSO subject to changing email accounts and changing real life names.

If you don't use the uuid `field' that I propose, then everything would be just like it was before. If you do use it, then you can easily identify all of your own contributions regardless of what your name/email du jour is.

> if they do need to set it on multiple machines and can't be bothered to keep
> their e-mail consistant, why would they bother keeping this additional thing
> considtant? Linus is pointing out that people don't care now about their
> e-mail and name, and will care even less about some abstract UUID

The user doesn't have a damn choice!

The email can't be kept consistent over time because the tools expect it to be and/or use the actual physical email used to send/receive stuff. It's information that CONFLATES identity with whatever tool/system you're using.

For instance, Michael Haggerty cannot reasonably use

    [user]
        name  = Michael Haggerty
        email = mhagger@MIT.EDU

because he likely no longer has that email account to use. He is forced to change it and therefore forced to make his identity confused.

I'm proposing ALLOWING him to say:

    [user]
        uuid  = Michael Haggerty <mhagger@MIT.EDU>
        name  = Michael Haggerty
        email = mhagger@ALUM.mit.edu

Heck, let's say he works at Red Hat as well; he might make some commits under this config AT WORK:

    [user]
        uuid  = Michael Haggerty <mhagger@MIT.EDU>
        name  = Michael Haggerty
        email = mhagger@redhat.com

Then, he can make, say, commits to the Linux kernel repo for both work and hobby related issues and still be recognized as the same person. That is, he can have some commits under "Michael Haggerty <mhagger@ALUM.mit.edu>" and other commits under "Michael Haggerty <mhagger@redhat.com" and still link them all together as the same identity with just the uuid "Michael Haggerty <mhagger@MIT.EDU>".

Sincerely, Michael Witten