[darcs-users] Re: most of the commands do not use dash to separatewords

zooko at zooko.com zooko at zooko.com
Thu Feb 2 20:53:12 UTC 2006


> > Perhaps it is okay if
> > the darcs equivalent of unix "mv" is spelled "move".
> 
> No, it isn't.

Why?  Would users be confused because they expect darcs to have unix-style
command names and when they try "darcs mv" it doesn't work?  I rather doubt it
-- "darcs mv" is the only unix-style command!

Instead, users appear to be confused because they expect darcs to have English
human-readable-style command names and when they try "darcs move" it doesn't
work.


> > As for "darcs remove", it might be best to eliminate that command, 
> 
> If consistency is wanted, rather rename 'remove' to 'rm' than 'mv' to
> 'move'.

It isn't consistency of naming, but the fact that "darcs mv" does something
very different from "darcs remove".  "darcs mv" is necessary and frequently
used, where "darcs remove" is confusing and unnecessary and is rarely used.


It appears that the name "darcs mv" is an exception from the normal darcs
command-name style solely in order to signal that it does something subtly
different from "darcs remove".  I have a simpler way to convey this signal:
eliminate "darcs remove".  Then "darcs mv" can have an English-style name just
like every other darcs command.

Or at least hide "darcs remove" in some obscure corner of the manual and then
don't let the fact that "darcs remove" is subtly different from "darcs move"
bother you.

Regards,

Zooko




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