Re: syntax for --invoke-diff-cmd (was: Branch 'invoke-diff-cmd-feature' is ready for half-way review)

On 28/10/13 23:15, Johan Corveleyn wrote:

Hi Johan and everyone,

substitution variables no longer needs to be escaped, since we
set aside 10 keywords that may not be used for anything else.

The escape mechanism was a hack because I didn't want to
monopolize common variable names(like f1, l1 etc), but Roderich's
timely reminder to use the correct svn syntax of 'old' and 'new'
in the help file made the natural solution obvious: just use the
pattern:

svn_[old|new|mine|yours|base]...*

I also like this approach because it removes the need for the
user to remember whether f1 token was the old or the new, or
perhaps mine, yours or base.

Currently the extra % at the end is there because we strcmp and
then just substitute, even when it's inside a string to allow for
things like + and - in front and at the end of file names, some
diff programs require this syntax and it accommodates input like
foo=%svn_old.

Currently, the % at the end ensures are %svn_old% and
%svn_old_label% are unique tokens and if we remove the end %,
%svn_old_label would end up expanded as /tmp/file_label.

So to make this new %svn-* pattern work, we could change it thus:

%svn_old
%svn_label_old

Ie, just put 'label' in second position, I think this is an
acceptable looking, clear syntax and keeps things simple.

"BTW, thanks for continuing your work, and for hanging in there even
though it all takes a while (and sorry for giving the syntax feedback
so late). "

Thanks for everyone's patience in that matter and for putting up
with my unusual syntax experiments :)

Picking syntax *is* important because such decisions shape many
hours of user time, and changing things later on is always
unpopular and usually impossible.

So taking the extra time and care is well worth the effort, if
people are not 100% happy with a choice, there is always a good
reason for it.

It's very easy to change the delimiter patterns in the code, so
the question can be considered right up to the moment where we
release, it doesn't hold anything up at all if someone can think
of a better scheme in a few week's time.

Gabriela

Ps,: I'm sure we can get it completed for 1.9 (do we have an ETA here?)
and if time is getting short and I'm still confuzzled, I'll start asking
for help. What takes the time is me learning things and getting lost on
silly issues like this:

http://gabriela-gibson.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/gdb-and-shell-game.html
Received on 2013-10-29 22:31:09 CET