Re: [PATCH 0/3] Add `-p' option to `git-mv', inspired by `mkdir'

From: Dragan Simic <dsimic@manjaro.org>
Date: Oct 31, 2023, 04:54 UTC
Message-ID: <ffbb04b363938e4a487906134ce4f3c6@manjaro.org>
In-Reply-To: <xmqqlebj4dnt.fsf@gitster.g>

On 2023-10-31 05:30, Junio C Hamano wrote:

Show 23 quoted lines

> Hugo Sales <hugo@hsal.es> writes:
> 
>>> Both are plausible, and "mkdir -p" does not have such a nasty
>>> ambiguity.  That is what makes me unsure about the new feature
>>> (again, either with required "-p" or with implied "-p").
>> 
>> I think the ambiguity is resolved by the inclusion of lack thereof
>> of a trailing `/`.
> 
> The question is not if we can come up with a rule that the user can
> use to disambiguate.  It is if the user will find that such a rule
> is a naturally acceptable way to disambiguate.
> 
> When both of
> 
>     git mv file there/exists/such/a/directory
>     git mv file there/exists/such/a/directory/
> 
> create "there/exists/such/a/directory/file" and removes "file", with
> or without a trailing slash, "you should add a slash if you want a
> directory, and otherwise you should not add a slash" is a rather
> arbitrary rule.  Let's not go there.  I still view the downside more
> grave than having to occasionally do "mkdir".

Please note that the above-described git-mv operation succeeds with no trailing slash if "there/exists/such/a/directory" doesn't already exist as a directory, and creates "there/exists/such/a/directory" as a file. With the trailing slash, the git-mv operation succeeds only if "there/exists/such/a/directory" already exists as a directory, and fails otherwise.

A quite similar ambiguity exists in cp(1) in mv(1), which is also resolved by the use of the trailing slash character. However, I've encountered only one person aware of that disambiguation, and in cp(1) only, but in the "I always include the trailing slash" way, without actually understanding it fully. Maybe I need to encounter more people, I don't know.