From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dkim=pass (1024-bit key) header.d=pobox.com header.i=@pobox.com header.b="vzpbUTm5" Received: from pb-smtp2.pobox.com (pb-smtp2.pobox.com [64.147.108.71]) by lindbergh.monkeyblade.net (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 5B96EE8 for ; Wed, 13 Dec 2023 07:15:35 -0800 (PST) Received: from pb-smtp2.pobox.com (unknown [127.0.0.1]) by pb-smtp2.pobox.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id C42461C7AB4; Wed, 13 Dec 2023 10:15:34 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from junio@pobox.com) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed; d=pobox.com; h=from:to:cc :subject:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id:mime-version :content-type; s=sasl; bh=g9f1rryM5Heml9bTbSj4RE9ID6GOW6LJLqHekA Uw0MU=; b=vzpbUTm5k4xCWW/rFWehfYwnjBkPqviTsLSbZxUeYGoxyTXIkQ8POb b5FTCHBTl9Y79Y/qQJuQ03o/zPsn70XRd48WYKuB03Mijyzkx6RdbaxOgQAOpNvm WINEup6AGYvuvO12g5p8U1Z+eU79QnBMrecOe+tDMR577Yc2si/DM= Received: from pb-smtp2.nyi.icgroup.com (unknown [127.0.0.1]) by pb-smtp2.pobox.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id BCC801C7AB1; Wed, 13 Dec 2023 10:15:34 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from junio@pobox.com) Received: from pobox.com (unknown [34.125.193.51]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by pb-smtp2.pobox.com (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 2AA631C7AB0; Wed, 13 Dec 2023 10:15:34 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from junio@pobox.com) From: Junio C Hamano To: Patrick Steinhardt Cc: Ramsay Jones , git@vger.kernel.org, Taylor Blau , Phillip Wood Subject: Re: [PATCH v2 1/4] wt-status: read HEAD and ORIG_HEAD via the refdb In-Reply-To: (Patrick Steinhardt's message of "Wed, 13 Dec 2023 08:38:33 +0100") References: <1db3eb3945432964aabe1c559db4c3ac251e83fd.1702365291.git.ps@pks.im> Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2023 07:15:33 -0800 Message-ID: User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Precedence: bulk X-Mailing-List: git@vger.kernel.org List-Id: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain X-Pobox-Relay-ID: 7647A62E-99CA-11EE-B2BB-25B3960A682E-77302942!pb-smtp2.pobox.com Patrick Steinhardt writes: >> Me neither, but once you start thinking about getting rid of the >> need to use one-file-per-ref filesystem, being able to maintain all >> refs, including the pseudo refs, in one r/w store backend, becomes a >> very tempting goal. From that point of view, I do not have problem >> with the idea to move _all_ pseudorefs to reftable. > > Yes, we're in agreement. > >> But I do have reservations on what Patrick, and the code he >> inherited from Han-Wen, calls "special refs" (which is not defined >> in the glossary at all), namely, refs.c:is_special_ref() and its >> callers. > > I do not want to add "special refs" to the glossary because ultimately > they should go away, with two exceptions: FETCH_HEAD and MERGE_HEAD. > Once we're there we can of course discuss whether we want to explicitly > point them out in the glossary and give them a special name. OK, I somehow got a (wrong) impression that you are very close to the finish line. If the intention is to leave many others still in the "special" category (for only the reasons of inertia), with a vision that some selected few must remain "special" with their own good reasons, then I am perfectly fine. Thanks.