[darcs-users] Hunk merging and interactive edit

Theam Yong Chew senatorzergling at gmail.com
Thu Apr 28 10:51:52 UTC 2011


Hi all,

I have a question about better presentation of patches/hunks and
interactive editing.

Suppose I initially have the following function in my file (all
transcripts slighted edited for readability):

  ==== Transcript ================

  ~/temp/scm/dr3 $ cat > separate
  function foo (){
      ...
  }

  ~/temp/scm/dr3 $ darcs add separate

  ~/temp/scm/dr3 $ darcs rec separate -a -m "Initial edit."
  Recording changes in "separate":

  Finished recording patch 'Initial edit.'

  ==============================


I then edit the file, adding a new function before foo, and changing
foo itself slightly. I consider this 2 different but related
edits. The file "separate" now looks like this:


  ======File "separate"==========

  function test(){
     ...
  }

  function foo (arg){
      ...
  }

  ==============================

During darcs record, I would like the edit to be recorded as 2 hunks,
so using the "interactive editor" (press e, see final output below
[1]), I defined 2 separate operations and then record (press y) the 2
hunks into 1 patch.  Unfortunately, my hints through the interactive
edit have not had any effect because the 2 separate hunks get merged
again.

  ====== Transcript ============
  ~/temp/scm/dr3 $ darcs rec separate
  hunk ./separate 1
  -function foo (){
  +function test(){
  +   ...
  +}
  +
  +function foo (arg){
  Shall I record this change? (1/1)  [ynWesfvplxdaqjk], or ? for help: e
  hunk ./separate 1
  +function test(){
  +   ...
  +}
  +
  Shall I record this change? (1/2)  [ynWesfvplxdaqjk], or ? for help: y
  hunk ./separate 5
  -function foo (){
  +function foo (arg){
  Shall I record this change? (2/2)  [ynWesfvplxdaqjk], or ? for help: y
  What is the patch name? 2 changes.
  Do you want to add a long comment? [yn]n
  Finished recording patch '2 changes.'

  ~/temp/scm/dr3 $ darcs cha -v --last=1
  Thu Apr 28 15:20:41 New Zealand Standard Time
    * 2 changes.
      hunk ./separate 1
      -function foo (){
      +function test(){
      +   ...
      +}
      +
      +function foo (arg){
  ==============================

I know it would've required 2 different patches to highlight this, but
often it makes sense to group related hunks into the same patch. This
is probably not a straight-forward thing to resolve, since the merging
behaviour is often the desired behaviour. What do you suggest I try?

Yong.


[1] Final output of interactive edit:

  Interactive hunk edit:
   - Edit the section marked 'AFTER'
   - Arbitrary editing is supported
   - This will only affect the patch, not your working copy
   - Hints:
     - To split added text, delete the part you want to postpone
     - To split removed text, copy back the part you want to retain

  ========================== BEFORE (reference) ==========================
  function foo (){
  ============================= AFTER (edit) =============================
  function test(){
     ...
  }

  function foo (){
  ============================= (edit above) =============================


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