Subject: Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Re: How to rename a category?
From: Charles Duffy <cduffy@spamcop.net>
To: gnu-arch-users@gnu.org
In-Reply-To: <20041118033618.GE12710@kat>
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Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2004 21:58:11 -0600
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On Wed, 2004-11-17 at 20:36 -0700, Michaeljohn Clement wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 17, 2004 at 12:47:45PM -0600, Charles Duffy wrote:
> >Renaming a category is changing history.
> 
> It doesn't have to be.

How can it not be? You checked in foo--bar--0.1--base-0; now, you're
making foo--bar--0.1--base-0 refer to something else. If you record FOO
as part of the historical record, and someone later who asks for FOO
gets something different, history has been changed.

[Okay, yes, I understand that projects have identity beyond their names
-- but the existing solution has a fair bit going for it from a
pragmatic perspective; folks who want an extra layer can do that, either
w/ different software or something akin to build configs].

> >You're changing what revision $FOO was called when it was checked in; 
> >that's part of its history.
> 
> Projects morph.  The continuous history of the code is bound more 
> tightly to our conception of the identity of a project than the name.  
> It would be nice if arch mapped current names onto an arbitrary, static, 
> and non-semantic namespace.

Hrm. If you want to discuss this further, any chance you could provide a
more concrete proposal?

> >Now, if you want to just do this for future revisions, that's a whooole
> >different kettle of fish. Tag from foo--dev--0.1 to bar--dev--0.1, and
> >create a new branch foo--new--0.1 (or foo--dev--0.2, or whatever). Now,
> >you have the correct names for future work, but you haven't changed the
> >past.
> 
> Almost good enough, but then when I check out foo--dev--0.1 (actually 
> just foo--0 in this case) in a couple months when I need it again, I'm 
> going to have a Monty Python moment until I remember what happened.  I'm 
> pretty insistent about limiting the number of things I have to remember.

Create your new branch on the end of foo--0, after the history that's
previously there? Not sure if you can do a second import into the same
version, but you can at least do an import onto a different branch and
then tag it in.

[This has some avoidable caveats].


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