Git Branches: Intuition and Reality

Re:Git Branches: Intuition and Reality by xorcist on Thursday November 23, 2023 @11:22AM (#38394429)

I'd be happy to argue why Linus is wrong here. Many things would be much easier if git recorded some more metadata in every commit: file moves, and branch moves, to start with.

Having some sort of notion of "parent branch" would be very useful for a number of common operations, and a "renamed file" without having to rely on client dependent heuristics too. Empty files trip people up all the time so a "create file" would fit in perfectly.

These concepts would also be a good basis for more user friendly clients. Other version control systems do this the surprise factor should be low.

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Re:Git Branches: Intuition and Reality by erik_seaberg on Thursday November 23, 2023 @05:39PM (#38398453)

People would get lazy and rename a file without telling Subversion they had done it, so it would write a “old file deleted, new file created from nothing” revision. Most of the merge conflict resolution machinery just couldn’t run without the missing guidance. Git infers someone probably renamed a file you edited or vice versa, which seems risky but works better in practice.

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