[darcs-users] darcs repository format naming cleanup

Isaac Dupree ml at isaac.cedarswampstudios.org
Fri May 7 02:33:04 UTC 2010


On 05/06/10 21:06, Simon Michael wrote:
> I joined an interesting discussion on #darcs today; here's what I
> proposed. I think this or something like it would be a good direction to
> aim for. What do you think ?

dear list, read the IRC logs if you want to see what kind of discussion 
has already happened (I think the context wasn't much presented in the 
above message),
http://irclog.perlgeek.de/darcs/2010-05-06#i_2302516

> darcs init --format=darcs-1|darcs-2-backward-compatible|darcs-2

By "darcs-2-backward-compatible" do you actually mean the format that's 
compatible with darcs-1 repos but *not* with darcs-2 repos? (i.e. 
"hashed" as we've been calling it so far).  (reading 
"darcs-2-backward-compatible" I think "some format that is 
backwards-compatible with darcs 2", rather than "some format that is 
backwards-compatible, and which also has something to do with darcs 2".) 
  If I had to pick a naming similar to the above set, what about 
"darcs-1.5"?(which suggests by version-number conventions that it is a 
revision of the "darcs 1" format, and also luckily there was never an 
executable versioned darcs 1.5 so there wouldn't be confusion with 
that.)  Or (having now read the IRC logs, which mentioned a theoretical 
future "darcs-3" and "darcs-3-backward-compatible") it makes me 
alternatively think "darcs-2-compatible-with-darcs-1" (in fact which 
other repo formats *would* "darcs-3-backward-compatible" be compatible 
with? Obviously not *both* darcs-2 and darcs-1, because those two are 
not even compatible with each other's patches!)

(Also, Is it naive to think that darcs-1 executables are far enough in 
the past (still in-place in a few places,), that it's unwise to create 
modern-day user-interface instability just in order to make the 
situation regarding darcs-1 executables clearer?  However I guess the 
--format proposal also makes things clearer like hashed vs. darcs2, as 
well as avoiding our complete insanity the next time we invent another 
repo format or two.)


More information about the darcs-users mailing list