Re: Selection-set editing without VC-dired

[Bob Rogers]

   From: Stefan Monnier <address@hidden>
   Date: Tue, 01 Jan 2008 21:52:55 -0500

   >> So, I'm not outright rejecting the idea of a non-VC-Dired UI for
   >> specifying selection sets. But I think it would be better for
   >> now if I continued to focus on making VC-Dired so fast that
   >> you won't really want or need an alternate set-editing method.

   > PCL-CVS is certainly fast enough but I still consider having to use it
   > (or other directory-based methods) for multi-file commits a crutch and
   > inconvenience.  There is no point in having to go through a directory
   > listing when committing two files already loaded and edited in buffers.

   While I like PCL-CVS, obviously, I agree that I also use VC to commit
   single files and that I occasionally feel like it would be nice to have
   an intermediate level . . .

Sorry for stepping into this conversation so late.  I have code to do
multi-file commits based on *VC-log* comments.  The workflows goes like
this:

   1.  M-x vc-start-commit to create a new *VC-log* buffer with all of
the modified files named.  Only those files still named in the buffer at
commit time are actually committed, and new files can be added manually.
(There is also a M-x vc-split-entry command to split the log buffer at
point, copying half out into a new buffer).

   2.  C-x v = in the log-edit buffer produces a diff of the listed
files for perusal while writing the comment.

   3.  C-! in a diff hunk snarfs the definition name from point in the
source (though only a few language modes are handled so far) and starts
a comment for that definition, under the correct file.

   4.  Iterate and/or split until happy, then commit normally.

   Unfortunately, I have been lazy about updating this code to work with
the changes ESR has introduced since the Emacs 22.1 release.  Worse, it
is also essentially undocumented.  But if there's interest, I will try
to accelerate work on making it current (and documenting it!).

                                        -- Bob Rogers
                                           http://rgrjr.dyndns.org/