[Monotone-devel] Re: .mt-attrs formatting

[graydon hoare]

On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 23:00:10 +0100, Bruce Stephens <address@hidden> wrote:

> I don't really mix with Windows users that much (only with Unix
> developers who have to use Windows sometimes), but I suspect filenames
> which begin or end with whitespace really aren't that common.  Not
> that it matters, since I agree it would be good to support it.

personally I don't *really* care either; it just feels a bit like
trading one silly bug for another of similar nature. but there are
lots of silly bugs around, and it's nice to occasionally stir them
up and see if a solution pops out.

> That's good for something that's managed by programs, but .mt-attrs
> isn't, at present.  Do you envisage it changing to being a file that's
> not normally edited by users?

yes, I was thinking I'd someday get around to adding commands for
"monotone attr set <attr> <value> <file>..." or such. also "monotone
ls attrs" etc. and make the rename / drop commands adjust .mt-attrs
as necessary.

> Anyway, it sounds like the code fix you want is non-trivial, so I
> suggest something like the documentation change I gave earlier (at
> least so the example has the correct format).

oh, it's not non-trivial, it's just a bike shed issue: it's simple
enough that everyone has an idea about how to do it, and everyone's
idea is slightly different. but you're right that the docs need to
change to describe what it really does, in any case.

honestly if it makes people feel better for the time being, feel
free to switch to the no-leading-or-trailing-whitespace version that
richard posted, perhaps file a bug saying so. it *is* more user
friendly, and the residual failure is minor. it isn't a big enough
problem to get all upset about.

-graydon