Re: [PATCH/RFC 0/3] Per-repository end-of-line normalization

[Avery Pennarun <apenwarr@gmail.com>]

On Fri, May 7, 2010 at 6:14 PM, Linus Torvalds
<torvalds@linux-foundation.org> wrote:
> On Fri, 7 May 2010, Linus Torvalds wrote:
>>      IOW, if you really want to say "do automatic crlf for this set of
>>      paths", the natural syntax for that would be
>>
>>       * crlf=auto
>
> Btw, since we're discussing this, I do think that our current "crlf=input"
> syntax for .gitattributes is pretty dubious.
>
> I don't really see why it should be a path-dependent thing on whether you
> do crlf conversion on just input or on checkout too.

Me neither.  However, in the name of sanity, it sure would be great to
have the global configuration options exactly parallel the per-project
and per-file configuration options.  From that point of view, 'input'
exists just to keep things nice and symmetrical.  And considering how
complicated this discussion already is (compared to what a simple
concept CRLF conversion is), that's probably worth something in
itself.

Part of the confusion comes from the way the options are currently
declared.  set vs. unset vs. unspecified vs. "input" vs. "auto" for an
option named "crlf" is just very, very, unfriendly.  None of the words
*mean* anything.

Maybe we should rethink this from the top.  Imagine that we currently
have no crlf options whatsoever.  What *should* it look like?  I
suggest the following:

Config:
   core.eolOverride = lf / crlf / auto / binary / input
   core.eolDefault = lf / crlf / auto / binary / input

Attribute:
   eol = lf / crlf / auto / binary / input

If eolOverride is not "auto" or unspecified, we ignore eolDefault or
any attributes.

If the attribute is not "auto" or unspecified, we ignore eolDefault.

For all entries, unspecified is equivalent to "auto".

Of course the eol attribute could be named "crlf", but that might not
increase the sanity as much as we would like.

And "input" means "auto, but strip CR when committing."  Or maybe the
problem is that it doesn't belong here at all: maybe it should be an
entirely separate attribute that takes effect whenever the eol
attribute/config resolves to "auto."

Or maybe I'm just not thinking about it the right way?

Avery