Re: [PATCH v3 5/8] rebase: rename merge_base to branch_base

From: Phillip Wood <phillip.wood123@gmail.com>
To: "Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason" <avarab@gmail.com>,
	"Phillip Wood via GitGitGadget" <gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
Cc: git@vger.kernel.org,
	Philippe Blain <levraiphilippeblain@gmail.com>,
	Denton Liu <liu.denton@gmail.com>,
	Johannes Schindelin <Johannes.Schindelin@gmx.de>,
	Phillip Wood <phillip.wood123@gmail.com>,
	Elijah Newren <newren@gmail.com>,
	Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>,
	Jonathan Tan <jonathantanmy@google.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v3 5/8] rebase: rename merge_base to branch_base
Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2022 10:49:22 +0100	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <7b9d2a05-de2e-d0e0-6554-a592fa2349d4@dunelm.org.uk> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <221013.86bkqfleh5.gmgdl@evledraar.gmail.com>

On 13/10/2022 20:16, Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason wrote:
> 
> On Thu, Oct 13 2022, Phillip Wood via GitGitGadget wrote:
> 
>> From: Phillip Wood <phillip.wood@dunelm.org.uk>
>>
>> merge_base is not a very descriptive name, the variable always holds
>> the merge-base of 'branch' and 'onto' which is commit at the base of
>> the branch being rebased so rename it to branch_base.
> 
> To me "branch" means or has heavier implications of "named branch" than
> just a merge base, and this command is perfectly happy to work on
> commits disconnected from any named branch.
> > But more to the point, the rebase docs for --onto discuss a "merge
> base", so you'd read those, and then encounter this code talking about a
> "branch base", and wonder what the difference was...

Aren't the docs saying the merge base is the base of the commits (i.e. 
branch) being rebased? I don't think merge_base is a particularly 
helpful name as it doesn't tell us what it is the merge base of and 
branch_base was the best I could come up with. I see what you mean in 
the detached HEAD case, but as the command also works with named 
branches I hope it is fairly obvious what "branch_base" is in the 
detached HEAD case.

Best Wishes

Phillip