C. Michael Pilato wrote on Tue, Dec 13, 2011 at 14:01:45 -0500:
> On 12/13/2011 01:25 PM, Eric S. Raymond wrote:
> > C. Michael Pilato <cmpilato_at_collab.net>:
> >>> Does a file replace differ in any way from a delete plus add of the new text?
> >>
> >> In Subversion, yes. A replacement is, like an add or a delete, an operation
> >> at the node level, not an operation on the contents of that node. A replace
> >> is an addition of a new object[1] -- with its own new line of version
> >> control history -- that is coincidental with the removal of some previously
> >> existing object that occupied the same path.
> >
> > I still don't understand how this differs from a delete followed by an add.
> > Explain it to me like I'm reallllyyy stuuupid, please, so I can document it
> > and you never have to explain it again.
> >
> > When I add a file at a given path, it creates new object with a
> > history that is tracked. When I delete that path, I destroy the
> > container as well as the content. If I subsequently create a new
> > file at the same path, it's a new object with its own history.
> >
> > How is a replace different?
>
> Assume your "delete" and subsequent "add" happens in the same commit, it's
> not different at all. In fact, the Subversion filesystem API doesn't even
> recognize a "replace" operation. There's "delete (file or dir)", there's
> "make file" and "make dir", and there's "copy (file or dir)". The "replace"
> action found in the dumpfile is just a compacting of some delete operation
> and a subsequent add or copy into a single verb, and that only because it
> helps sequential processors of the dump stream avoid possibly notifying
> about multiple actions on the same path. We favor the likes of:
>
> R /some/file.txt
>
> over:
>
> D /some/file.txt
> A /some/file.txt
>
> in output.
>
> (My prior response was the result of my misreading your phrase "delete plus
> add of the new text" as meaning "removing all the contents of the file, and
> then adding all new contents of the same file". I see now that you were
> talking about "container" operations, not content ones. Sorry about that.)
>
> >> [1] Most of the time. A replacement can have a copyfrom source, in which
> >> case its not strictly a new line of history for that object.
> >
> > I think I get this part. When you replace with a copy source, you're
> > destroying the container that existed at this path, abd replacing it with
> > a new container that has history extending back through the copy source.
> > Is that correct?
>
> Yup!
>
> I was trying to think through the generalities here, too. I believe they
> boil down to this:
>
> "delete" stands alone. It never has text. Never has properties.
> Never has copyfrom.
>
> "add" and "replace" can have text if the added object is a file. The
> text is the contents of the added object as it appears in the committed
> revision. "add" and "replace" of directories can not have text.
>
> "add and replace" can have properties -- the set of properties present
> on the added file/directory in the committed revision.
>
> "add and replace" can have copyfrom information, indicating that the
> "added" object does not truly represent the creation of a new line of
> history, but is instead a continuation of a pre-existing line of
> history. This is still an addition of sorts in that the object is newly
> added to the set of its parent directory's list of children.
>
> But I haven't double-thunk that for complete accuracy.
>
> > So, everything except a delete can include properties and they all
> > work the same way. Correct?
>
> Yes.
>
> >>> If a file replace can have a copyfrom source, how does replace with a
> >>> copyfrom source differ from add with a copyfrom source?
> >>
> >> The differ only in the fact that a replace implies the simultaneous deletion
> >> of some other object which previously lived at that path.
> >
> > Got it. That case I understand, it's how they differ in the non-copyfrom
> > case that still confuses me.
>
> This is replace without copyfrom:
>
> $ svn rm some/file.txt
> $ touch some/file.txt
> $ svn add some/file.txt
> $ svn ci -m "Replace some/file.txt with a new file."
>
> This is replace with copyfrom:
>
> $ svn rm some/file.txt
> $ touch some/file.txt
> $ svn copy someother/differentfile.txt some/file.txt
> $ svn ci -m "Replace some/file.txt with a copy of a different file ."
And:
$ svn rm some/file.txt
$ touch some/file.txt
$ svn copy some/file.txt_at_HEAD some/file.txt
$ svn ci -m "Replace some/file.txt with a copy itself."
Received on 2011-12-13 20:17:07 CET