Re: [Monotone-devel] Execute by default?

[Markus Schiltknecht]

Hi,

Nathaniel Smith wrote:
> It seems like always "executing" is the Right Thing for
> add/drop/rename/pivot_root/whatever-else-I'm-forgetting.

Please also note, that not only 'drop' has a special case, but also 
'add' in case the file doesn't exist. Monotone already refuses to add a 
non existing file.

IMO, it would be consistent if we did the third option (remove if 
unchanged, drop from repository (forget) if changed, perhaps with a 
warning) by default.

However, besides that default, I would like to still provide a 
'--no-execute' or '--change-tracking-only' or however-we-name-it option, 
which would simply do the change in monotone's tracking, i.e. allow you 
to add a non existing file or drop one without removing it.

Renaming even has two special cases: a) source does not exist and target 
already exists. However, these are very similar and should be treated 
likewise, IMO. (That is: by default execute the rename in the workspace. 
In case the target file already exists in the workspace, check if it 
equals the file we want to move there. If so, accept that and remove the 
source. If not, refuse to move.)

Pivot_root already has an '--execute' option. To be consistent with the 
above, that should be on by default.

Trying the current behavior, I stumbled across this slightly strange thing:

 # mtn ls known
 fileA
 source_dir
 source_dir/fileB

 -- do the pivot root workspace changes by hand
 # mkdir target_dir
 # mv fileA target_dir
 # mv source_dir/fileB ./
 # rmdir source_dir

 -- invoke pivot_root with --execute erroneously set
 # mtn pivot_root -e source_dir target_dir
 mtn: misuse: rename source path 'source_dir' does not exist

 -- anyway, the operation succeeded:
 # mtn ls known
 fileB
 target_dir
 target_dir/fileA

(It's only the error message I'm complaining about... ;-) )

Regards

Markus