Re: [PATCH] git-branch: display "was sha1" on branch deletion rather than just "sha1"

From: Brandon Casey <drafnel@gmail.com>
Date: Mar 22, 2009, 15:11 UTC
Message-ID: <ee63ef30903220811m69c45e9cna0af52a3b5a851fe@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <20090322061320.GB14765@coredump.intra.peff.net>

On Sun, Mar 22, 2009 at 1:13 AM, Jeff King <peff@peff.net> wrote:

Show 11 quoted lines

> On Sat, Mar 21, 2009 at 07:09:17PM -0500, Brandon Casey wrote:
>
>> Make it more pleasant to read about a branch deletion by adding "was".
>> Jeff King suggested this, and I ignored it.  He was right.
>
> Heh. While I am tempted to dance in a circle shouting "I told you so", I
> actually find that after getting used to it, I do not mind the current
> output. ;)
>
> Out of curiosity, what prompted your change of heart? Did you hear from
> somebody who found it confusing, or did you just change your mind?

I just changed my mind.

My original opinion was based on the output from 'git stash drop'. It has the full sha1 in the message and looks like:

  $git stash drop
  Dropped refs/stash@{0} (58fa28fddd951deb782e3300b2d059f95544f6f1)

I like it. I like the full sha1.

For some reason, the partial sha1 in the branch delete message irritated me.

  $ git branch -d mybranch
  Deleted branch mybranch (455f59b).

I don't think it was because it was a partial sha1. Maybe it was because the message seemed to imply that what was referenced by the sha1 was being deleted. The branch is just a pointer, so deleting it does not mean that what it pointed at was lost in any way. I think adding "was" makes it seem more like a pointer to me. Or maybe it has something to do with my mother, any psychology majors in the audience? :)

-brandon