From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Michael Witten Subject: Re: Please default to 'commit -a' when no changes were added Date: Fri, 23 Apr 2010 18:38:35 -0500 Message-ID: References: <20100422151037.2310.2429.reportbug@frosties.localdomain> <20100422155806.GC4801@progeny.tock> <4BD1EE10.4010009@gmx.de> <4BD21CAB.8060903@gmx.de> <20100423222522.GA21224@thyrsus.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: QUOTED-PRINTABLE Cc: git@vger.kernel.org To: esr@thyrsus.com X-From: git-owner@vger.kernel.org Sat Apr 24 01:39:09 2010 connect(): No such file or directory 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 1O5SSi-0005kR-M3 for gcvg-git-2@lo.gmane.org; Sat, 24 Apr 2010 01:39:09 +0200 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1755371Ab0DWXjA convert rfc822-to-quoted-printable (ORCPT ); Fri, 23 Apr 2010 19:39:00 -0400 Received: from fg-out-1718.google.com ([72.14.220.155]:63959 "EHLO fg-out-1718.google.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1750910Ab0DWXi7 convert rfc822-to-8bit (ORCPT ); Fri, 23 Apr 2010 19:38:59 -0400 Received: by fg-out-1718.google.com with SMTP id 19so460447fgg.1 for ; Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:38:55 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:received:mime-version:received:in-reply-to :references:from:date:message-id:subject:to:cc:content-type :content-transfer-encoding; bh=CPlDTpVM9al6zRUr7aSM4Elu8KDn8WOGytviEFLv+gA=; b=qS9VY46HgdHVwzB2sBbtr0v7w1QYAvjD2yLoJZdZoRGWFrb9TA6BcdKpzUHlXMwyLm HzH2w13MlGB+PdjIYfwEQSIi8LwVW0jekYa+GUoQFU0p0IfSl2qS9ZacimotSXUKHpxi 2Gpbd0mccTLydqd8AvzaF+U+up8+oQf7N4h5g= 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:content-transfer-encoding; b=IBRA1QCvjc+NBKUuBfsm+gAlWEzpIn0YmG2Jxk36fMrEjCNCrBkHrk0sjQVppHYiW+ 20uZhty2lRhSDRQRytRa9MPYemjgf0zBaPUqq7KSwRRzqVixUb97hX6xFe2MSWZ+y8ra 7MoAGUHmb/Rq0GYYhUkTX4Ia4/8ff53TiZOdQ= Received: by 10.239.177.212 with SMTP id w20mr65395hbf.126.1272065935102; Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:38:55 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.239.189.143 with HTTP; Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:38:35 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <20100423222522.GA21224@thyrsus.com> Sender: git-owner@vger.kernel.org Precedence: bulk List-ID: X-Mailing-List: git@vger.kernel.org Archived-At: On Fri, Apr 23, 2010 at 17:25, Eric Raymond wrote: > Commands that are simpler > to mentally model, because they don't have a lot of exception cases, > are better. The UNIX philosophy: "Provide mechanism, not policy." Some goofball touched upon this subject in a little-read book called "The Art of Unix Programming", specifically: What Unix Gets Wrong http://www.faqs.org/docs/artu/ch01s04.html ... But the cost of the mechanism-not-policy approach is that when the user can set policy, the user must set policy. Nontechnical end-users frequently find Unix's profusion of options and interface styles overwhelming and retreat to systems that at least pretend to offer them simplicity. In the short term, Unix's laissez-faire approach may lose it a good many nontechnical users. In the long term, however, it may turn out that this =E2=80=98mistake=E2=80=99 confers a critical advantage =E2=80=94 be= cause policy tends to have a short lifetime, mechanism a long one. Today's fashion in interface look-and-feel too often becomes tomorrow's evolutionary dead end (as people using obsolete X toolkits will tell you with some feeling!). So the flip side of the flip side is that the =E2=80=9Cmechanism, not policy=E2=80=9D philosophy may enable Unix to renew its relevance long after competitors more tied to one set of policy or interface choices have faded from view.[6] :-D Sincerely, Michael Witten