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

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Oct 31, 2023, 04:30 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqqlebj4dnt.fsf@gitster.g>
In-Reply-To: <1384513657.119681.1697027599941@office.mailbox.org>

Hugo Sales <hugo@hsal.es> writes:

Show 6 quoted lines

>> 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".