Re: [PATCH 1/4] magic pathspec: add tentative ":/path/from/top/level" pathspec support

[Nguyen Thai Ngoc Duy <pclouds@gmail.com>]

On Fri, Apr 8, 2011 at 10:05 PM, Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> wrote:
> Nguyen Thai Ngoc Duy <pclouds@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> On Thu, Apr 7, 2011 at 11:18 PM, Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> wrote:
>>
>>> This is so that you can say ":/.gitignore" and do not have to say
>>> ":/:.gitignore".
>>
>> But then, say people have a file named @foo at top dir. They can write
>> ":/@foo" to address the file. Some time later we decide to use '@' as
>> magic, how can we re-train user's fingers?
>
> You don't.  The primary goal of short form is to be short to type from the
> command line, and if you are in doubt, you can always disambiguate by
> saying ":/:@foo", and you can use the terminating colon even if you are
> sure "@" is not a magic in your version of git.

If you allow me to use ":/@foo", I would (because it's convenient).
And over time it will be carved in my muscle memory. Doubts and
surprises after that are not good. Suppose I usually do "git co
:/@foo", then '@' in later versions means many files, not just '@foo'
at top. The '@' magic surprise would upset (enrage in the first few
minutes maybe) me. My argument would be "it used to work fine"
(against "you should use 'git co :/:@foo'" because it's less
convenient that way).
-- 
Duy