[Monotone-devel] mtn automate get_current_revision_id - bug or feature?

[Nuno Lucas]

I decided it was "cool" to include the monotone revision ID on the
build process, so I could know the exact source of a program.

My idea is to have an auto generated .c file with the result of "mtn
automate get_base_revision_id" and "mtn automate
get_currente_revision_id", because that way I would know the base
revision that code was based and know if it was generated from a
temporary build by comparing the current revision id with the base
one.

Sometimes it happens I forget to commit before sending a new build
(usually some quick fix done over the phone with some other guy), so
the good thing of this method is that if I commit latter the current
revision id becomes the base revision id, which is great, because I
still can retrieve the exact some code I used.

The problem is that if there are no changes to the working space,
get_current_revision_id outputs some "bogus" ID, which have no value
to me, as there are no changes.

Is this a feature or a bug? Shouldn't the current_revision_id be equal
to the base_revision_id if there are no changes? After all I can't
commit an empty revision, so why the "bogus" id?

What do you think?


Best regards,
~Nuno Lucas