From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.0 (2014-02-07) on aws-us-west-2-korg-lkml-1.web.codeaurora.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.9 required=3.0 tests=BAYES_00,DKIM_SIGNED, DKIM_VALID,DKIM_VALID_AU,HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS,MAILING_LIST_MULTI, SPF_HELO_NONE,SPF_PASS autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.0 Received: from mail.kernel.org (mail.kernel.org [198.145.29.99]) by smtp.lore.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DFB9DC433E1 for ; Mon, 24 Aug 2020 22:23:44 +0000 (UTC) Received: from vger.kernel.org (vger.kernel.org [23.128.96.18]) by mail.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id AE7A62054F for ; Mon, 24 Aug 2020 22:23:44 +0000 (UTC) Authentication-Results: mail.kernel.org; dkim=pass (1024-bit key) header.d=pobox.com header.i=@pobox.com header.b="YV9MOfdt" Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1728067AbgHXWXn (ORCPT ); Mon, 24 Aug 2020 18:23:43 -0400 Received: from pb-smtp1.pobox.com ([64.147.108.70]:51795 "EHLO pb-smtp1.pobox.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1726303AbgHXWXn (ORCPT ); Mon, 24 Aug 2020 18:23:43 -0400 Received: from pb-smtp1.pobox.com (unknown [127.0.0.1]) by pb-smtp1.pobox.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id D435F6CC64; Mon, 24 Aug 2020 18:23:40 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from junio@pobox.com) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha1; c=relaxed; d=pobox.com; h=from:to:cc :subject:date:message-id:mime-version:content-type; s=sasl; bh=k CisVBK5tao2QlZfY7zLi2IeSNQ=; b=YV9MOfdtIgmcXKu++DzNqmXLHD6g0k+7P Zop8KVwAf4AtMIgGaRdCav8s5VD60W6Uq4CD+sm4uICZ5FbDKhg1nmu7ldsdnWA3 dW8IiDo5yxe3wmvYpWO4hP5i/S9cksAegWVlnWqzFBRTGYCAai6VDlMHKmTVLisy 17dviInkMs= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=pobox.com; h=from:to:cc :subject:date:message-id:mime-version:content-type; q=dns; s= sasl; b=UpQ8R0OEk/D48BnHauS3W9z6MMKM6UfE2xHV8vMnietH+wy/wfa94nzr NAfZ/Ln0+FSwLfFAl+BOfUNFiSSdRRr+w3QEeLHNvrn9Fw4r1EY9upDb98eITGuu ZgmwrT/+Oc0Om+XjSeEGeQBh15Bij45zvut1hdcNNwvlTP/rBig= Received: from pb-smtp1.nyi.icgroup.com (unknown [127.0.0.1]) by pb-smtp1.pobox.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id B84806CC63; Mon, 24 Aug 2020 18:23:40 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from junio@pobox.com) Received: from pobox.com (unknown [34.75.7.245]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by pb-smtp1.pobox.com (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 3E0576CC5E; Mon, 24 Aug 2020 18:23:40 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from junio@pobox.com) From: Junio C Hamano To: git@vger.kernel.org Cc: users@kernel.org, Johannes Schindelin Subject: [RFD] on removing "git-foo" for builtins from disk Date: Mon, 24 Aug 2020 15:23:39 -0700 Message-ID: User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/26.3 (gnu/linux) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain X-Pobox-Relay-ID: 76321364-E658-11EA-BBF6-01D9BED8090B-77302942!pb-smtp1.pobox.com Sender: git-owner@vger.kernel.org Precedence: bulk List-ID: X-Mailing-List: git@vger.kernel.org Back in 2005, all "git" subcommands were installed in $PATH as "git-commit" etc., and people wrote their scripts assuming that they are all available on their $PATH. But it then became cumbersome to have so many "git-foo" commands in /usr/bin/. Because "git" is installed in /usr/bin/ and knows to dispatch to 'git-foo' subcommand when invoked with 'foo' as its first argument, we asked our users to use "git foo" form and moved "git-foo" commands out of /usr/bin/, moved to /usr/libexec/git-core/, and gave an escape hatch, which is to add the output of "git --exec-path" early in their $PATH, to old scripts (i.e. the scripts needed a one-line fix). Exectly 12 years ago, we asked the users if they still need these on-disk binaries [*1*]. Many built-in commands (i.e. subcommands whose code is in the "git" binary), as long as they are invoked in "git foo" form, do not need to be installed anywhere on-disk, and theoretically can be removed, as long as the users and the scripts they wrote long time ago, following our advise to use the escape hatch, can somehow be convinced. Removing /usr/libexec/git-core/git-{add,branch,commit,...} will allow us to reduce disk footprint on systems that do not support hardlinks and slightly simplifies the installation procedure. Some folks want to do so unconditionally. The only downside being that we finally break the promise we made our users 12 years ago. I do not have a strong opinion either way, but if proponents for removal can convince others successfully, I do not mind removing the unnecessary on-disk binaries for built-in commands. Discuss away. [References and Footnotes] *1* https://lore.kernel.org/git/7vprnzt7d5.fsf@gitster.siamese.dyndns.org/