Re: [RFC PATCH v2 3/6] doc: Add namespace collision guidelines file

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: May 29, 2020, 01:20 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqq7dwv1qqn.fsf@gitster.c.googlers.com>
In-Reply-To: <xmqqo8q73lkf.fsf@gitster.c.googlers.com>

Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> writes:

Show 12 quoted lines

>> The names of the subcommands "git" can spawn is a shared resource.
>> ...
>
> Also names of worktrees that are attached to a single repository.
> ...
>
> I (or others) may come up with other things that must be named and
> name collisions must be avoided.  Even though I already said that I
> didn't think the "suggestions to avoid name collisions" given by the
> RFC PATCH are well done, I do think it is worth being aware of the
> problem space, and enumerating what kind of names are shared and
> limited resource is the first step to become so.

Here are a few more.

 - The nickname of a remote, like 'origin'.
 - A custom pretty format alias 'pretty.<name>'.
 - Ref hierarchy name (next to refs/{heads,tags,remotes}).

All of these are defined in the configuration, and unlike attributes, they are never defined by in-tree tracked files, so we do not have to worry about "I use this name, and I want to make sure others do not use the same for different purpose."

But third-party tools may want to carve out a subnamespace for their own use, and there needs coordination among them so that they do not stomp on each other's toes, or collide with names the end-users would want to use.