Hi all,
After encountering the "--test" option, which is named "--nochange"
on some commands, and "--limit" which is named "--count" in some
commands, I spent some time to have a a look at this command line
argument inconsistancy.
I would like to propose changing "--test" to "--nochange" and "--limit"
to "--count" in some fossil commands. Read on for the
full analysis.
@Stefan
This change has impact on JSON, so I am especially interested in
your opinion on this. Thanks!
----------------------------------------------
First, consider:
fossil addremove --test ....
and compare this with
fossil merge --nochange ...
fossil update --nochange ...
In both commands, the intent is not to make any real changes, but
only show what would happen if the command was executed for real.
Making things worse:
fossil help --test
Here the "--test" option means something completely different.
Second, compare:
fossil annotate --limit N
fossil finfo --limit N
with:
fossil timeline --count N ...
Again two different option names for the same thing.
Making things worse:
fossil ticket show ... --limit LIMITCHAR
Here, the option "--limit" is used for a completely different purpose.
Here is my proposal, to make those two situations consistant:
- Whereever the "--limit" option is used to indicate a maximum number
after which the operation should be stopped, rename it to "--count|-n".
The 2 affected commands are:
fossil annotate
fossil finfo
In JSON it affects parameters/options changing from "limit"
to "count", "--n" already exists there as short form.
Not affected:
fossil timeline (already has --count|-n)
fossil ticket show (has --limit, but different meaning)
- Whereever the "--test" option is used to indicate a dry-run, use
"--nochange|-n" in stead.
The commands affected are:
fossil addremove
fossil all (has --test, but undocumented)
fossil clean (has --test, but undocumented)
fossil commit (has --test, but undocumented)
Not affected:
fossil merge (already has --nochange|-n)
fossil update (already has --nochange|-n)
fossil help (has --test, but different meaning)
Note that "-n" is the short form for both "--count" and "--nochange",
but because those two options are used for a different group of
commands there is no conflict here. There are no commands which
have both "--count" and "--nochange" and there should never be:
"--count" only exists on "query" type commands, which don't make
any changes to the filesystem/database anyway.
This proposal is committed in:
<https://www.fossil-scm.org/index.html/info/e72af5058e>
The implementation keeps the "--test" and "--limit" as deprecated,
but I don't have any problems just removing those.
Feedback appreciated! If there are no objections, I would like
to merge this to trunk.
Regards,
Jan Nijtmans
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