Re: [PATCH v3] Add an option not to use link(src, dest) && unlink(src) when that is unreliable

[Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>]

On Mon, 27 Apr 2009, Junio C Hamano wrote:
> >
> > 	[core]
> > 		usehardlinks = true/false
> 
> I am a bit worried about this name, too.  It may lead people to a
> misunderstanding that we would do something magical when they do this with
> the configuration set:
> 
> 	wget http://some.where/huge-file.mpg 1.mpg
>         ln 1.mpg 2.mpg
>         git add 1.mpg 2.mpg
>         rm -f 1.mpg 2.mpg
>         git checkout-index -a
> 	ls -i ?.mpg

Btw, I do agree that maybe 'usehardlinks' is not a good name either. Maybe 
we should make it clear that we're talking about a specific case for 
object creation.

Maybe the config option shouldn't be a boolean, but a "how to instantiate 
objects". IOW, we could do

	[core]
		createobject = {link|rename}

instead. Maybe we some day could allow "inplace", for some totally broken 
system that supports neither renames nor links, and just wants the object 
to be created with the final name to start with.

(Ok, that sounds unlikely, but I mention it because it's an example of the 
concept. Maybe somebody likes crazy databases, and would like to have a 
"createobject = mysql" for some DB-backed loose object crap).

		Linus