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Re: [PATCH v2 1/5] replace: forbid replacing an object with one of a different type

From
Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date
Aug 28, 2013, 19:32 UTC
Message-ID
<xmqqa9k1a9wq.fsf@gitster.dls.corp.google.com>
In-Reply-To
<878uzmclva.fsf@linux-k42r.v.cablecom.net>
Thomas Rast <trast@inf.ethz.ch> writes:
Show 10 quoted lines
> Hrm, you're right, that's a flaw in my logic.  You could do the same in
> all other cases too, e.g. replace a tree so that an entry is of a
> different type and at the same time change the type of the object
> itself.  You however have to carefully go through all objects that refer
> to the one that was replaced, and fix the type in all of them.
>
> It still seems an extremely unsafe thing to do with trees...
>  ...
> Should we add a --force flag of some sort to allow the user to do this,
> while keeping the normal safety checks?

As long as we do not forbid such an unusual replacement on the reading side, we won't break people who are more inventive than we are (I am not convinced that we know people's workflow well enough to definitively say that no sane workflow, which benefits from being able to replace an object with another from a different type, exists).

Preventing "git replace" wrapper from creating such a replacement by default will make it harder to do and may reduce mistakes, without breaking them too much, I think.

Previous: Thomas RastNext: Christian Couder
Message 5 of 13 in “Check replacement object type and minor updates”
  1. 0/5 Check replacement object type and minor updatesChristian Couder, Aug 27, 2013
  2. 1/5 replace: forbid replacing an object with one of a different typeChristian Couder, Aug 27, 2013
  3. Junio C HamanoAug 27, 2013
  4. Thomas RastAug 28, 2013
  5. Junio C HamanoAug 28, 2013
  6. Christian CouderAug 29, 2013
  7. Junio C HamanoAug 29, 2013
  8. Christian CouderAug 30, 2013
  9. Junio C HamanoAug 30, 2013
  10. 2/5 Documentation/replace: state that objects must be of the same typeChristian Couder, Aug 27, 2013
  11. 3/5 t6050-replace: test that objects are of the same typeChristian Couder, Aug 27, 2013
  12. 4/5 t6050-replace: add test to clean up all the replace refsChristian Couder, Aug 27, 2013
  13. 5/5 Documentation/replace: add Creating Replacement Objects sectionChristian Couder, Aug 27, 2013

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