Re: [PATCH] expose svn_repos_replay via the RA API, Take 2

On Wed, 2005-11-16 at 03:09 +0100, Branko Čibej wrote:
> The real question here is, why do we need a new API at all? Can't we
> simply add copyfrom info to ra_update?

I think the flaw here is in the word "simply".

I believe that simply defining what copyfrom information means for a
diff across multiple revisions (to say nothing of a diff starting from a
complicated working copy) is a research project.

Once you've done that, figuring out how to efficiently compute that
information given our current repository schema is also, I believe, a
research project.

Giving copyfrom information for a single revision, on the other hand, is
easy. The meaning is clear (you give exactly what information was
specified at commit time for the revision), and the algorithm is clear
(you use the revision's changes table).

While I'm all for having a simple API, I think that asking Garrett to
undertake two research projects for the sake of a simpler API falls
clearly on the "best is the enemy of the good" side of the line. And
I'm not even sure the "simpler" API would be best; if the semantics of
copyfrom information over multiple revisions are sufficiently dodgy, the
resulting API might have a single function with highly obscure semantics
for some calling cases.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscribe@subversion.tigris.org
For additional commands, e-mail: dev-help@subversion.tigris.org
Received on Wed Nov 16 18:43:45 2005