From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Michael Witten Subject: Re: What's in a name? Let's use a (uuid,name,email) triplet Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:32:38 -0500 Message-ID: References: <4ba2293f.c5c2f10a.5e9c.5c4a@mx.google.com> <9e4733911003181202h23b3d702xce8fc0670a994d52@mail.gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Cc: Jon Smirl , git@vger.kernel.org To: Linus Torvalds X-From: git-owner@vger.kernel.org Thu Mar 18 20:33:14 2010 Return-path: Envelope-to: gcvg-git-2@lo.gmane.org Received: from vger.kernel.org ([209.132.180.67]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1NsLSu-0002N9-IB for gcvg-git-2@lo.gmane.org; Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:33:08 +0100 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1751995Ab0CRTdD (ORCPT ); Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:33:03 -0400 Received: from mail-fx0-f219.google.com ([209.85.220.219]:65325 "EHLO mail-fx0-f219.google.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751351Ab0CRTdB (ORCPT ); Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:33:01 -0400 Received: by fxm19 with SMTP id 19so2466463fxm.21 for ; Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:32:58 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:mime-version:received:in-reply-to:references :from:date:message-id:subject:to:cc:content-type; bh=fRobwhZWDHKFPwEEl42fhM3/KvgUUb0bkz4Wa7H9+HQ=; b=x5RHXgXeBOtsTCwT1LPaBMNFVh3Wk6zI56DvbxuWIBUUYFWcNC0djKgZx9fnUtx+Yk JUVZDq6WqC3300ThkF97zx5oIqjfrNmtXpCJORvEe0jxqFVr6D3XwNEzerytgYXB1rw2 7ElBUnIPfOQ1Zjp2YtY/ypn7pvaOdrEhKEaUY= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:from:date:message-id:subject:to :cc:content-type; b=ny1T3xWSKNFuJPyW3CJcRWz23RxHSogUhbrWr52mB0EoF5F7QZE9bk70o5PILINFrm jAJ4N/s0A27yRMf3vazfb1iokf3pqsOGwKDY6NX6fVrkwYA2FWj2GOf6GYBYTPMyG6AV EuqIo8wxveluF0nd1zWtsUuaIlvfRsLjg3dyQ= Received: by 10.239.188.146 with SMTP id p18mr1497094hbh.208.1268940778312; Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:32:58 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: Sender: git-owner@vger.kernel.org Precedence: bulk List-ID: X-Mailing-List: git@vger.kernel.org Archived-At: On Thu, Mar 18, 2010 at 14:07, Linus Torvalds wrote: > And if it doesn't have meaning, then it's just > annoying and will never ever be attached to > anything relevant long-term. You've actually just described the current name/email system. What a uuid provides is that very property of long-term attachment; a git user can change the name/email pair but keep the same uuid. You see, the problem is that the name/email pair isn't really an identifier; it's actually just info about the user's current email account, which is very useful for everyday workflow, but pretty naive for historical identification over long periods of time. As previously discussed in my original email, the 'email' portion of the name/email pair is the most volatile portion, and that's because it's only tangentially related to identity (and it certainly has nothing to do with long-term identity). >There is absolutely _no_ way that teh uuid would > ever actually encode any real meaningful > information that isn't better represented by the > name/email. It IS a name/email pair (if you want or if that is enforced); it's just one that isn't as volatile. This notion of a uuid is an attempt to adopt a BETTER MODEL for identity: The user get's to choose a piece of information that he himself deems a longterm identifier; it's not about what address you currently use for email, it's solely about who you are over a long period of time.