Re: [PATCH] Move all dashed form git commands to libexecdir

[Nicolas Pitre <nico@cam.org>]

On Thu, 29 Nov 2007, Linus Torvalds wrote:

> Yes. I meant that we might as well keep all the git-xyz forms around, but 
> _only_ in the libexec directory (and make sure that the libexec directory 
> by default is *not* a binary directory), so that they'd normally not be 
> visible.
> 
> So then, people who want to use the old-fashioned git-xyz forms, because 
> they just really hate white-space or whatever, could choose to do one of 
> two things:
>  - either just change the default libexec directory to be the same as the 
>    binary install directory, and have all the git-xyz things in the same 
>    place they've always been.
>  - or just add $(gitlibexec) into their path.
> 
> but the default (which is what 99% of all people use) would be to not 
> show them. I also think that it makes sense to avoid wasting diskspace 
> with duplicate files, so in situations where you don't have hardlinks, 
> just don't install the git-xyz files at all by default (and again, maybe 
> we can have a option to the installer to do it for people who really are 
> very attached to the git-xyz format, and prefer to waste even a lot of 
> disk on it)
> 
> So I just think that the whole idiotic complaint that some people have 
> (that whole "git-<tab><tab>" shows "Display all 144 possibilities?" and 
> people are somehow using that as an argument that git is "complex") should 
> be something we strive to undo. I think the complaint is insane (because 
> the answer is "well, nobody forces you to _use_ all the power and scripts 
> we give you!"), but still, it's a complaint, so let's just assume the user 
> is right, and try to fix it.

Absolutely!

And despite Junio's appearance of some cowardliness on this issue :-)
I think we should have this right now instead of later. Like Junio said 
himself, this was planned for a while already, and poorly maintained 
external scripts are already failing due to other reasons anyway.


Nicolas