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From: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
To: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Cc: Jacob Keller <jacob.e.keller@intel.com>, git@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH 0/8] fetch: introduce machine-parseable output
Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2023 12:58:50 +0200	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <ZEpVatqnhdUSMWYY@ncase> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <xmqqildis89b.fsf@gitster.g>

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On Wed, Apr 26, 2023 at 01:23:12PM -0700, Junio C Hamano wrote:
> Jacob Keller <jacob.e.keller@intel.com> writes:
> 
> >> Yeah, I'd be perfectly happy to rename this to `--format=porcelain`.
> >> I'll wait for the Review Club that discusses this patch set tomorrow and
> >> will send a new version with that change afterwards if nobody disagrees.
> >> 
> >> Patrick
> >
> > We had some discussion during review club about this, where the idea of
> > using "--porcelain" came up because many commands use that when
> > switching into a machine readable format.
> >
> > In addition, this format not only changes the output but also moves it
> > from being on stderr to stdout, which is a hint that the intended usage
> > of the command is now a little different.
> 
> A little different from what?  I do not think the answer would be
> "other program's --porcelain mode", as sending them to stdout would
> be one of the things that make the output easier for programs to
> parse, so it does sound like very much in the same spirit as "git
> status --porcelain" where its output format gets tweaked to be more
> machine friendly.
> 
> The output with "--porcelain" option enabled tend to be less human
> friendly and the distinction between Porcelain (for humans) and
> plumbing (for scripts) is reversed in the use of the word there---it
> started as "this is the option for those who write Porcelain
> commands to use", but still it is not a very good name for the
> option.

Ah, thanks for explaining where this reversed meaning actually comes
from. I really wondered why we use "porcelain" in preexisting code to
reflect machine-parseable interface, but that explanation does make
sense.

> I am perfectly OK if the plan is to uniformly use --output-format
> (or something equally more descriptive) and migrate and deprecate
> the "--porcelain" option away from existing commands.

I'm still not quite clear on where the consensus lies now. Personally, I
think that both `--format` and `--output-format` work well and are a bit
more descriptive than simply `--porcelain`, and wouldn't mind also
migrating other binaries to use either of them.

Furthermore, I think that `--[output-]format` has the advantage that you
don't need to handle priorities or mutual exclusion of different options
that all apply to the reference format. To a user, it is not immediately
obvious what `git fetch --format=compact --porcelain` would do, and
which of both options ultimately get respected. But that's likely only
true for future commands, because any migration would create the same
kind of ambiguity for preexisting commands.

If we were to also migrate preexisting code to use `--[output-]format`
then I'd argue that `--output-format` is likely the better name, mostly
because it is less likely to be ambiguous compared to `--format`. The
latter could e.g. easily confused with `--object-format`.

So I think I'll stick with `--output-format` for the time being.

Patrick

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  parent reply	other threads:[~2023-04-27 10:59 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 120+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2023-04-19 12:31 [PATCH 0/8] fetch: introduce machine-parseable output Patrick Steinhardt
2023-04-19 12:31 ` [PATCH 1/8] fetch: split out tests for output format Patrick Steinhardt
2023-04-19 12:31 ` [PATCH 2/8] fetch: add a test to exercise invalid output formats Patrick Steinhardt
2023-04-19 12:31 ` [PATCH 3/8] fetch: fix missing from-reference when fetching HEAD:foo Patrick Steinhardt
2023-04-26 19:20   ` Jacob Keller
2023-04-27 10:58     ` Patrick Steinhardt
2023-04-26 19:21   ` Jacob Keller
2023-04-27 10:58     ` Patrick Steinhardt
2023-04-26 19:25   ` Glen Choo
2023-04-27 10:58     ` Patrick Steinhardt
2023-04-19 12:31 ` [PATCH 4/8] fetch: introduce `display_format` enum Patrick Steinhardt
2023-04-19 12:31 ` [PATCH 5/8] fetch: move display format parsing into main function Patrick Steinhardt
2023-04-19 12:31 ` [PATCH 6/8] fetch: move option related variables " Patrick Steinhardt
2023-04-19 12:31 ` [PATCH 7/8] fetch: introduce new `--output-format` option Patrick Steinhardt
2023-04-26 19:40   ` Glen Choo
2023-04-27 10:58     ` Patrick Steinhardt
2023-04-19 12:31 ` [PATCH 8/8] fetch: introduce machine-parseable "porcelain" output format Patrick Steinhardt
2023-04-26 19:52   ` Glen Choo
2023-04-27 10:58     ` Patrick Steinhardt
2023-04-27 23:20       ` Glen Choo
2023-04-28  8:51         ` Patrick Steinhardt
2023-04-28 17:20           ` Glen Choo
2023-05-02 20:55       ` Felipe Contreras
2023-04-24 20:17 ` [PATCH 0/8] fetch: introduce machine-parseable output Felipe Contreras
2023-04-25  9:58   ` Patrick Steinhardt
2023-04-26 19:14     ` Jacob Keller
2023-04-26 20:23       ` Junio C Hamano
2023-04-26 20:30         ` Jacob Keller
2023-04-27 10:58         ` Patrick Steinhardt [this message]
2023-04-27 19:46           ` Jacob Keller
2023-04-27 22:49         ` Glen Choo
2023-04-26 20:24       ` Junio C Hamano
2023-04-26 18:54 ` Glen Choo
2023-04-26 21:14   ` Glen Choo
2023-04-26 19:17 ` Jacob Keller
2023-04-27 11:13 ` [PATCH v2 " Patrick Steinhardt
2023-04-27 11:13   ` [PATCH v2 1/8] fetch: split out tests for output format Patrick Steinhardt
2023-04-29 17:34     ` SZEDER Gábor
2023-05-03 11:21       ` Patrick Steinhardt
2023-04-27 11:13   ` [PATCH v2 2/8] fetch: add a test to exercise invalid output formats Patrick Steinhardt
2023-04-27 11:13   ` [PATCH v2 3/8] fetch: fix missing from-reference when fetching HEAD:foo Patrick Steinhardt
2023-04-27 17:26     ` Glen Choo
2023-04-27 19:49     ` Jacob Keller
2023-04-27 11:13   ` [PATCH v2 4/8] fetch: introduce `display_format` enum Patrick Steinhardt
2023-04-27 11:13   ` [PATCH v2 5/8] fetch: move display format parsing into main function Patrick Steinhardt
2023-04-27 11:13   ` [PATCH v2 6/8] fetch: move option related variables " Patrick Steinhardt
2023-04-27 21:52     ` Junio C Hamano
2023-04-27 11:13   ` [PATCH v2 7/8] fetch: introduce new `--output-format` option Patrick Steinhardt
2023-04-27 22:01     ` Junio C Hamano
2023-04-28 22:03       ` Glen Choo
2023-05-03  9:12         ` Patrick Steinhardt
2023-04-28 22:31     ` Glen Choo
2023-05-03  9:43       ` Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-03 11:36         ` Patrick Steinhardt
2023-04-27 11:13   ` [PATCH v2 8/8] fetch: introduce machine-parseable "porcelain" output format Patrick Steinhardt
2023-04-27 19:52     ` Jacob Keller
2023-04-28 22:42     ` Glen Choo
2023-05-03 11:34 ` [PATCH v3 0/8] fetch: introduce machine-parseable output Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-03 11:34   ` [PATCH v3 1/8] fetch: fix `--no-recurse-submodules` with multi-remote fetches Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-08 22:51     ` Glen Choo
2023-05-09 12:41       ` Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-03 11:34   ` [PATCH v3 2/8] fetch: split out tests for output format Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-03 11:34   ` [PATCH v3 3/8] fetch: add a test to exercise invalid output formats Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-03 11:34   ` [PATCH v3 4/8] fetch: fix missing from-reference when fetching HEAD:foo Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-03 11:34   ` [PATCH v3 5/8] fetch: introduce `display_format` enum Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-03 11:34   ` [PATCH v3 6/8] fetch: move display format parsing into main function Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-03 11:34   ` [PATCH v3 7/8] fetch: move option related variables " Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-03 11:34   ` [PATCH v3 8/8] fetch: introduce machine-parseable "porcelain" output format Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-08 23:42     ` Glen Choo
2023-05-09 12:41       ` Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-09  0:03     ` Glen Choo
2023-05-03 16:48   ` [PATCH v3 0/8] fetch: introduce machine-parseable output Junio C Hamano
2023-05-03 16:53     ` Junio C Hamano
2023-05-04  7:57       ` Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-09  0:06   ` Glen Choo
2023-05-09 12:42     ` Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-09 13:01 ` [PATCH v4 " Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-09 13:02   ` [PATCH v4 1/8] fetch: fix `--no-recurse-submodules` with multi-remote fetches Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-09 17:49     ` Junio C Hamano
2023-05-09 18:27       ` Glen Choo
2023-05-10 12:34         ` Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-09 13:02   ` [PATCH v4 2/8] fetch: split out tests for output format Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-09 13:02   ` [PATCH v4 3/8] fetch: add a test to exercise invalid output formats Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-09 17:58     ` Junio C Hamano
2023-05-10 12:34       ` Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-09 13:02   ` [PATCH v4 4/8] fetch: fix missing from-reference when fetching HEAD:foo Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-09 19:28     ` Junio C Hamano
2023-05-10 12:34       ` Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-09 13:02   ` [PATCH v4 5/8] fetch: introduce `display_format` enum Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-09 20:19     ` Junio C Hamano
2023-05-10 12:35       ` Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-09 13:02   ` [PATCH v4 6/8] fetch: move display format parsing into main function Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-09 20:35     ` Junio C Hamano
2023-05-09 22:30     ` Glen Choo
2023-05-10 12:35       ` Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-09 13:02   ` [PATCH v4 7/8] fetch: move option related variables " Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-09 13:02   ` [PATCH v4 8/8] fetch: introduce machine-parseable "porcelain" output format Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-09 20:43     ` Junio C Hamano
2023-05-10 12:35       ` Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-10 12:33 ` [PATCH v5 0/9] fetch: introduce machine-parseable output Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-10 12:34   ` [PATCH v5 1/9] fetch: fix `--no-recurse-submodules` with multi-remote fetches Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-10 12:34   ` [PATCH v5 2/9] fetch: split out tests for output format Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-10 12:34   ` [PATCH v5 3/9] fetch: add a test to exercise invalid output formats Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-10 12:34   ` [PATCH v5 4/9] fetch: print left-hand side when fetching HEAD:foo Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-12  0:16     ` Glen Choo
2023-05-13 16:59     ` Jeff King
2023-05-15  5:15       ` Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-10 12:34   ` [PATCH v5 5/9] fetch: refactor calculation of the display table width Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-12  0:49     ` Glen Choo
2023-05-10 12:34   ` [PATCH v5 6/9] fetch: introduce `display_format` enum Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-10 12:34   ` [PATCH v5 7/9] fetch: lift up parsing of "fetch.output" config variable Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-10 12:34   ` [PATCH v5 8/9] fetch: move option related variables into main function Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-10 12:34   ` [PATCH v5 9/9] fetch: introduce machine-parseable "porcelain" output format Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-12  1:02     ` Glen Choo
2023-05-10 18:05   ` [PATCH v5 0/9] fetch: introduce machine-parseable output Junio C Hamano
2023-05-11 11:05     ` Patrick Steinhardt
2023-05-11 16:53       ` Junio C Hamano
2023-05-11 17:24       ` Felipe Contreras
2023-05-12  1:09   ` Glen Choo
2023-05-12  7:16     ` Patrick Steinhardt

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