Re: On "interpret-trailers" standalone tool

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Apr 16, 2014, 18:40 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqqlhv5glst.fsf@gitster.dls.corp.google.com>
In-Reply-To: <xmqq38hdi2zr.fsf@gitster.dls.corp.google.com>

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

> ...  I am looking at this
> more from the angle of obtaining a useful building block, while you
> seem to be thinking of this as a specialized tool for a narrow set
> of specifkc tasks.

By the way, I am speaking with a bitter experience of designing the original "format-patch" command line parameters, thinking that "This is a specialized tool to let me send what Linus hasn't picked up yet, so the command should take where Linus is and where I am".

Not using the A..B syntax turned out to be a poor choice but that realization came long after the ship sailed---back then, A..B syntax was relatively new and it was unclear that it would become the universal syntax we use throughout the system to denote a range of commits in the DAG.

The design mistake for starting at a specialized tool for a narrow set of specific tasks took considerable effort to retrofit the general syntax while not breaking the traditional usage. I am being cautious here because I do not see us making the same mistake.