From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
To: Linus Arver <linusa@google.com>
Cc: Linus Arver via GitGitGadget <gitgitgadget@gmail.com>,
git@vger.kernel.org, Christian Couder <chriscool@tuxfamily.org>,
Phillip Wood <phillip.wood123@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v2 5/6] trailer: rename *_DEFAULT enums to *_UNSPECIFIED
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2023 12:48:18 -0700 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <xmqqil820z25.fsf@gitster.g> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <owly8r8yt6cr.fsf@fine.c.googlers.com> (Linus Arver's message of "Fri, 22 Sep 2023 11:23:16 -0700")
Linus Arver <linusa@google.com> writes:
> ... I prefer the
> WHERE_UNSPECIFIED as in this patch because the WHERE_DEFAULT is
> ambiguous on its own (i.e., WHERE_DEFAULT could mean that we either use
> the default value WHERE_END in default_conf_info, or it could mean that
> we fall back to the configuration variables (where it could be something
> else)).
Yup. "Turning something that is left UNSPECIFIED after command line
options and configuration files are processed into the hardcoded
DEFAULT" is one mental model that is easy to explain.
I however am not sure if it is easier than "Setting something to
hardcoded DEFAULT before command line options and configuration
files are allowed to tweak it, and if nobody touches it, then it
gets the hardcoded DEFAULT value in the end", which is another valid
mental model, though. If both can be used, I'd personally prefer
the latter, and reserve the "UNSPECIFIED to DEFAULT" pattern to
signal that we are dealing with a case where the simpler pattern
without UNSPECIFIED cannot solve.
The simpler pattern would not work, when the default is defined
depending on a larger context. Imagine we have two Boolean
variables, A and B, where A defaults to false, and B defaults to
some value derived from the value of A (say, opposite of A).
In the most natural implementation, you'd initialize A to false and
B to unspecified, let command line options and configuration
variables to set them to true or false, and after all that, you do
not have to tweak A's value (it will be left to false that is the
default unless the user or the configuration gave an explicit
value), but you need to check if B is left unspecified and tweak it
to true or false using the final value of A.
For a variable with such a need like B, we cannot avoid having
"unspecified". If you initialize it to false (or true), after the
command line and the configuration files are read and you find B is
set to false (or true), you cannot tell if the user or the
configuration explicitly set B to false (or true), in which case you
do not want to futz with its value based on what is in A, or it is
false (or true) only because nobody touched it, in which case you
need to compute its value based on what is in A.
And that is why I asked if we need to special case "the user did not
touch and the variable is left untouched" in the trailer subsystem.
Thanks.
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2023-09-22 19:48 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 72+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2023-08-05 5:04 [PATCH 0/5] Trailer readability cleanups Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
2023-08-05 5:04 ` [PATCH 1/5] trailer: separate public from internal portion of trailer_iterator Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
2023-08-07 21:16 ` Glen Choo
2023-08-08 12:19 ` Phillip Wood
2023-08-10 23:15 ` Linus Arver
2023-08-10 22:50 ` Linus Arver
2023-08-05 5:04 ` [PATCH 2/5] trailer: split process_input_file into separate pieces Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
2023-08-07 22:39 ` Glen Choo
2023-08-11 0:41 ` Linus Arver
2023-08-05 5:04 ` [PATCH 3/5] trailer: split process_command_line_args into separate functions Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
2023-08-07 22:51 ` Glen Choo
2023-08-11 0:59 ` Linus Arver
2023-08-11 1:02 ` Linus Arver
2023-08-11 21:11 ` Glen Choo
2023-08-05 5:04 ` [PATCH 4/5] trailer: teach find_patch_start about --no-divider Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
2023-08-07 23:28 ` Glen Choo
2023-08-11 1:25 ` Linus Arver
2023-08-11 20:51 ` Glen Choo
2023-08-05 5:04 ` [PATCH 5/5] trailer: rename *_DEFAULT enums to *_UNSPECIFIED Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
2023-08-07 23:45 ` Glen Choo
2023-08-11 18:00 ` Linus Arver
2023-09-09 6:16 ` [PATCH v2 0/6] Trailer readability cleanups Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
2023-09-09 6:16 ` [PATCH v2 1/6] trailer: separate public from internal portion of trailer_iterator Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
2023-09-11 17:10 ` Junio C Hamano
2023-09-09 6:16 ` [PATCH v2 2/6] trailer: split process_input_file into separate pieces Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
2023-09-11 17:10 ` Junio C Hamano
2023-09-09 6:16 ` [PATCH v2 3/6] trailer: split process_command_line_args into separate functions Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
2023-09-09 6:16 ` [PATCH v2 4/6] trailer: teach find_patch_start about --no-divider Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
2023-09-11 17:25 ` Junio C Hamano
2023-09-14 2:19 ` Linus Arver
2023-09-14 3:12 ` Junio C Hamano
2023-09-14 5:31 ` Linus Arver
2023-09-09 6:16 ` [PATCH v2 5/6] trailer: rename *_DEFAULT enums to *_UNSPECIFIED Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
2023-09-11 18:54 ` Junio C Hamano
2023-09-14 2:41 ` Linus Arver
2023-09-14 3:16 ` Junio C Hamano
2023-09-22 18:23 ` Linus Arver
2023-09-22 19:48 ` Junio C Hamano [this message]
2023-09-26 5:30 ` Linus Arver
2023-09-09 6:16 ` [PATCH v2 6/6] trailer: use offsets for trailer_start/trailer_end Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
2023-09-11 19:01 ` Junio C Hamano
2023-09-14 1:21 ` Linus Arver
2023-09-14 3:18 ` Linus Arver
2023-09-22 19:50 ` [PATCH v3 0/9] Trailer readability cleanups Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
2023-09-22 19:50 ` [PATCH v3 1/9] trailer: separate public from internal portion of trailer_iterator Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
2023-09-22 19:50 ` [PATCH v3 2/9] trailer: split process_input_file into separate pieces Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
2023-09-22 19:50 ` [PATCH v3 3/9] trailer: split process_command_line_args into separate functions Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
2023-09-22 19:50 ` [PATCH v3 4/9] trailer: rename *_DEFAULT enums to *_UNSPECIFIED Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
2023-09-22 19:50 ` [PATCH v3 5/9] commit: ignore_non_trailer computes number of bytes to ignore Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
2023-09-22 19:50 ` [PATCH v3 6/9] trailer: find the end of the log message Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
2023-09-22 19:50 ` [PATCH v3 7/9] trailer: use offsets for trailer_start/trailer_end Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
2023-09-22 19:50 ` [PATCH v3 8/9] trailer: only use trailer_block_* variables if trailers were found Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
2023-09-22 19:50 ` [PATCH v3 9/9] trailer: make stack variable names match field names Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
2023-09-22 22:47 ` [PATCH v3 0/9] Trailer readability cleanups Junio C Hamano
2023-09-22 23:13 ` Linus Arver
2023-09-23 0:48 ` Junio C Hamano
2023-09-26 5:40 ` Linus Arver
2023-09-26 6:22 ` [PATCH v4 0/4] " Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
2023-09-26 6:22 ` [PATCH v4 1/4] commit: ignore_non_trailer computes number of bytes to ignore Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
2023-09-26 6:22 ` [PATCH v4 2/4] trailer: find the end of the log message Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
2023-09-28 23:16 ` Jonathan Tan
2023-10-20 0:24 ` Linus Arver
2023-10-20 0:36 ` Junio C Hamano
2023-09-26 6:22 ` [PATCH v4 3/4] trailer: use offsets for trailer_start/trailer_end Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
2023-09-26 6:22 ` [PATCH v4 4/4] trailer: only use trailer_block_* variables if trailers were found Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
2023-10-20 19:01 ` [PATCH v5 0/3] Trailer readability cleanups Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
2023-10-20 19:01 ` [PATCH v5 1/3] commit: ignore_non_trailer computes number of bytes to ignore Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
2023-10-20 19:01 ` [PATCH v5 2/3] trailer: find the end of the log message Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
2023-10-20 21:29 ` Junio C Hamano
2023-12-29 6:42 ` Linus Arver
2023-12-29 21:03 ` Linus Arver
2023-10-20 19:01 ` [PATCH v5 3/3] trailer: use offsets for trailer_start/trailer_end Linus Arver via GitGitGadget
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