Re: Regarding issue #3348 ("Provide syntax which means 'include all files *not* in a changelist'")

On 01/04/2013 05:10 PM, Julian Foad wrote:
> On the other hand it does have some uses ("show me all the local mods
> that I haven't assigned to any changelist", "assign them all to a named
> changelist now"), and I consider the whole changelists feature to be a
> very marginal bit of functionality so it doesn't matter much either way,
> and it doesn't seem at all burdonsome to maintain.

"Marginal" ... same word I used elsethread. :-)

> I think using "--cl=''" for the UI is lame and driven by just letting the
> UI be dictated by the implementation.

I know what you're saying, and you may be right about how we originally
arrived at this UI. I do recall that we considered the very things you
suggested, but didn't stick with them for various reasons:

   "--cl=none" -- introduces a reserved changelist name "none" that
                  someone, somewhere might already be really using.

   "--no-changelist" -- implies that directories are included.

In a way, the current UI -- as ugly as it may seem -- turns out to actually
align pretty well with the real behaviors of the feature: the very presence
of the --cl option at all always indicates that the subcommand's operation
will be limited to things that can be assigned to changelists (files only),
and the empty-string argument says "... and of those files, recognize only
the ones with no changelist".

If we decide instead that what is desired is a way to say "all files *and
directories* not in a changelist", then I agree: --cl="" is bust, and
something like --without-changelist (--wo-cl?) makes more sense.

-- 
C. Michael Pilato <cmpilato_at_collab.net>
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