Re: How Subversion drove me to shoot myself in the foot.

On Monday 17 April 2006 22:51, Michael Goetze wrote:
> So please, make "svn commit" do something smart when it notices that
> added files aren't there anymore, because this really sucks.

Problem is: define "smart" in this context. SVN can't do anything about
missing files, it needs the user to resolve the problem by either re-adding
the file (I mean: copy a real file at the place SVN expects it because you
told it so with an "svn add" earlier) or by reverting the addition (with "svn
revert").

There's nothing that can be done automatically that would always be "right":
if you commit without the files it would be wrong, as the commit would
probably be broken (imagine missing source code files that are required by
the other files you've checked in). That's why SVN just aborts and screams
for help.

The SVN client *could* ask whether to commit without the files but I feel this
would be a bad idea since too often users would simply type "Y" and then
complain about the caused problem later. Users normally don't read error
messages unless they're forced to; to most users questions like "Do you want
me to do XYZ: Y/N" appears as "Do you want this error message to just
disappear: Y/N", so the error message doesn't really reach the brain when the
error messages disappears by simply pressing "Y". That's a regular problem
with security and usability.

C'ya,
        Marc

-- 
Marc Haisenko
Comdasys AG
Rüdesheimer Straße 7
D-80686 München
Tel:   +49 (0)89 - 548 43 33 0
Fax:   +49 (0)89 - 548 43 33 29
e-mail: haisenko@comdasys.com
http://www.comdasys.com
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