Re: [PATCH] Add option to git-commit to allow empty log messages

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
To: Miles Bader <miles@gnu.org>
Cc: "Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason" <avarab@gmail.com>,
	"David Aguilar" <davvid@gmail.com>,
	git@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH] Add option to git-commit to allow empty log messages
Date: Sun, 04 Apr 2010 22:27:22 -0700	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <7vsk7apiyt.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <buor5mu7acd.fsf@dhlpc061.dev.necel.com> (Miles Bader's message of "Mon\, 05 Apr 2010 14\:10\:58 +0900")

Miles Bader <miles@gnu.org> writes:

> Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> writes:
>> As a Porcelain, "git commit" has some leeway to enforce sensible policy on
>> the users, and "forbid commit that does not explain anything" is one such
>> policy.  It is not generally a good idea to expose the full capabilities
>> of plumbing to Porcelain if it leads to bad user behaviour, and such
>> "artificial" limitations are safety features we do not want to remove.
>
> Isn't the requirement of using a longish option like
> "--allow-empty-message" enough of a warning to users though?

Yes, but re-read the part you omitted from your quote, where Ævar makes it
sound as if exposing plumbing's flexibility to the Porcelain layer is
unconditionally a good thing.  My point is it never is.

And as you said (and as Sverre alluded to with his --allow-empty), longish
option is one way to ensure that we do not unconditionally expose
flexibility from the plumbing without thinking.