Re: [PATCH] Add property handling to mailer.py's commit messages

>> In summary, I'm all for mailer.py showing diffs of properties, but those
>> diffs *must not* appear as something 'patch' will try to understand and
>> apply. Further, I'm very much opposed to the propchange summary
>> section, which I believe to be visually unwieldy and largely redundant
>> with true property diffs. Finally, I think the sample file should
>> reflect recommended default settings, even if more interesting things
>> are explained yet commented-out.
>
> In summary, I will change the date format for /dev/null and change the
> default values in the configuration file like this:
> show_props =
> ignore_props =
> generate_propdiffs = add_path add copy_path modify delete_path delete
> ignore_propdiffs =
> This will remove the 'Property changes' section form the output and
> provide diffs for all property changes, independet from their name or
> action.
>
> Topics for further discussion:
> - What format shall we use for the property diffs?
> - Shall we combine the 'Property Changes' section and the propery diffs
> into one section?
>
> Thanks for your comments!

So, after thinking about this for much longer than I'd hoped to, I
believe my dissatisfaction with the ways this was implemented can be
described briefly like so:

   * Properties are getting far too specialized a level of treatment.
     They are an artifact of a modified versioned object, no more or
     less so than a file's contents.

   * While I appreciate the attempt at consistency in diff output, in
     this one case it's problematic because patch won't gracefully
     ignore propdiffs that it ultimately can't apply anywhere.

   * The configury is just far too complex for such a dinky little
     feature. I don't perceive a true need for toggling propdiff
     display based on the action performed on the property, but instead
     think of a file's properties as artifacts of that file,
     and therefore the display thereof as being toggled in the same
     fashion as the display of the file's contents/diff.

I guess I'd like to see mailer.py retain its paths-as-primary-keys
approach, with the artifacts of paths (content/content-diffs, repository
viewer urls, and properties/propdiffs) all treated equally.

I'll try to make a solid proposal in a follow-up mail, probably by
including a sample commit mail annotated with the toggleable regions
(and noting specifically the toggles).

-- 
C. Michael Pilato <cmpilato@collab.net>
CollabNet   <>   www.collab.net   <>   Distributed Development On Demand