Re: hg changeset numbers vs hashes and the "public" xen http-hg trees

[Ian Campbell <Ian.Campbell@citrix.com>]

On Fri, 2010-08-13 at 15:44 +0100, Dan Magenheimer wrote:
> I've started to notice developers making more use
> of the 48-bit "hash" (forgot the proper term) identifier
> for changesets instead of changeset number.  While
> I understand the reasons (specifically that the
> 48-bit has is unique across all trees but the changeset
> number is not... and that more developers are experienced
> now with git where the hash is exclusively used), sadly
> the "public" http representation of Xen trees available
> through:
> 
> http://xenbits.xensource.com/xen-unstable.hg and friends
> 
> which I browse regularly does not allow searching by hash,
> so a cset comment such as:
> 
> "tools/python: Remove non-ASCII characters introduced by fffedd3d70e1."
> 
> is rather useless when using the http interface.

Typing "fffedd3d70e1" in the search box at
http://xenbits.xensource.com/xen-unstable.hg takes me to 
http://xenbits.xensource.com/xen-unstable.hg?rev=fffedd3d70e1 which has
21967:fffedd3d70e1 as the first listed entry and as far as I know this
has always worked for me (I use it all the time).

It might be one click extra than you were expecting but it is certainly
there.

Even if not then clicking on the first entry on
http://xenbits.xensource.com/xen-unstable.hg then editing the URL to
change the hash is not that hard. In fact if you use it regularly then
an alias can usually be setup in most browsers to take you straight to
the relevant page if you type e.g. "xen fffedd3d70e1" in the address
bar.

Note that the cset number is not stable even within
http://xenbits.xensource.com/xen-unstable.hg -- if a merge changeset is
pushed to this tree I believe it is possible that changesets already
their could change their numbers.

Ian.