[PATCH] notes: add `rm` and `delete` commands

[PATCH] notes: add `rm` and `delete` commands

[Adam Dinwoodie]

Add `git notes rm` and `git notes delete` as alternative ways of saying
`git notes remove`.

Signed-off-by: Adam Dinwoodie <adam@dinwoodie.org>
---
 Documentation/git-notes.txt | 4 +++-
 builtin/notes.c             | 8 +++++---
 t/t3301-notes.sh            | 6 +++---
 3 files changed, 11 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/git-notes.txt b/Documentation/git-notes.txt
index 43677297f..b1059dc85 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-notes.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-notes.txt
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ SYNOPSIS
 'git notes' merge [-v | -q] [-s <strategy> ] <notes-ref>
 'git notes' merge --commit [-v | -q]
 'git notes' merge --abort [-v | -q]
-'git notes' remove [--ignore-missing] [--stdin] [<object>...]
+'git notes' (remove|rm|delete) [--ignore-missing] [--stdin] [<object>...]
 'git notes' prune [-n | -v]
 'git notes' get-ref
 
@@ -110,6 +110,8 @@ When done, the user can either finalize the merge with
 'git notes merge --abort'.
 
 remove::
+rm::
+delete::
 	Remove the notes for given objects (defaults to HEAD). When
 	giving zero or one object from the command line, this is
 	equivalent to specifying an empty note message to
diff --git a/builtin/notes.c b/builtin/notes.c
index 12afdf190..cedb37535 100644
--- a/builtin/notes.c
+++ b/builtin/notes.c
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ static const char * const git_notes_usage[] = {
 	N_("git notes [--ref <notes-ref>] merge [-v | -q] [-s <strategy>] <notes-ref>"),
 	N_("git notes merge --commit [-v | -q]"),
 	N_("git notes merge --abort [-v | -q]"),
-	N_("git notes [--ref <notes-ref>] remove [<object>...]"),
+	N_("git notes [--ref <notes-ref>] (remove|rm|delete) [<object>...]"),
 	N_("git notes [--ref <notes-ref>] prune [-n | -v]"),
 	N_("git notes [--ref <notes-ref>] get-ref"),
 	NULL
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ static const char * const git_notes_merge_usage[] = {
 };
 
 static const char * const git_notes_remove_usage[] = {
-	N_("git notes remove [<object>]"),
+	N_("git notes (remove|rm|delete) [<object>]"),
 	NULL
 };
 
@@ -1012,7 +1012,9 @@ int cmd_notes(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		result = show(argc, argv, prefix);
 	else if (!strcmp(argv[0], "merge"))
 		result = merge(argc, argv, prefix);
-	else if (!strcmp(argv[0], "remove"))
+	else if (!strcmp(argv[0], "remove") ||
+		 !strcmp(argv[0], "rm") ||
+		 !strcmp(argv[0], "delete"))
 		result = remove_cmd(argc, argv, prefix);
 	else if (!strcmp(argv[0], "prune"))
 		result = prune(argc, argv, prefix);
diff --git a/t/t3301-notes.sh b/t/t3301-notes.sh
index 2d200fdf3..50df9a3f9 100755
--- a/t/t3301-notes.sh
+++ b/t/t3301-notes.sh
@@ -353,9 +353,9 @@ test_expect_success 'create note with combination of -m and -F' '
 	test_cmp expect-combine_m_and_F actual
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'remove note with "git notes remove"' '
+test_expect_success 'remove note with "git notes remove/rm"' '
 	git notes remove HEAD^ &&
-	git notes remove &&
+	git notes rm &&
 	cat >expect-rm-remove <<-EOF &&
 		commit 7f9ad8836c775acb134c0a055fc55fb4cd1ba361
 		Author: A U Thor <author@example.com>
@@ -390,7 +390,7 @@ test_expect_success 'removing more than one' '
 	# We have only two -- add another and make sure it stays
 	git notes add -m "extra" &&
 	git notes list HEAD >after-removal-expect &&
-	git notes remove HEAD^^ HEAD^^^ &&
+	git notes delete HEAD^^ HEAD^^^ &&
 	git notes list | sed -e "s/ .*//" >actual &&
 	test_cmp after-removal-expect actual
 '
-- 
2.14.3

Re: [PATCH] notes: add `rm` and `delete` commands

[Eric Sunshine]

On Thu, Nov 9, 2017 at 8:46 AM, Adam Dinwoodie <adam@dinwoodie.org> wrote:
> Add `git notes rm` and `git notes delete` as alternative ways of saying
> `git notes remove`.

The justification for this change seems to be missing from the commit message.

One can formulate arguments for the change:

    - "rm" & "delete" more intuitive for Unix and DOS users
    - for consistency with git-<fill-in-blank> command(s)
    - ...

or against the change:

    - synonym bloat; balloons documentation
    - steals command verbs from potential future features
    - ...

> Signed-off-by: Adam Dinwoodie <adam@dinwoodie.org>

Re: [PATCH] notes: add `rm` and `delete` commands

[Junio C Hamano]

Eric Sunshine <sunshine@sunshineco.com> writes:

> or against the change:
>
>     - synonym bloat; balloons documentation
>     - steals command verbs from potential future features
>     - ...

I tend to agree with these two (and if I were to replace the "..."
with something concrete, this change is not desirable because it
will force us to add all these three when we introduce "remove"
elsewhere in the system).

Having said that, this remids me of an age-old topic we discussed in
a distant past but stalled due to lack of strong drive, which is:

    Some git subcommands take command verb (e.g. "git notes 'remove'")
    while others take command mode flags (e.g. "git branch --delete"),
    and the users need to remember them, which is not ideal.

I think the consensus back then, if we were to aim for consistency
by uniformly using only one of the two, is to use the command mode
flags, simply because existing commands that have the primary mode
and take an optional command mode flag [*1*] cannot be migrated to
the command verb UI safely and sanely.

And then, if we are not careful when we standardize all subcommands
to take command mode flags, we might end up with a situation where
some subcommand say "--remove" while other say "--delete", and some
users will wish to rectify that situation by adding an alias defined
for these flags---I view this patch as a part of that possible
future topic ;-).


[Footnote]

*1* For example, "git branch" by default is in the branch creation
    mode, but it can be told to work in its branch deletion mode
    with "--delete".

    If we were to standardize on command verbs, is "git branch
    delete" a deprecated relic from the old world that wants to
    create a branch whose name is 'delete', or is it done by a
    script in the new world that collected names of branches to
    delete and asked "git branch delete $to_delete" to delete all of
    them, where the $to_delete variable happened to end up empty?

    With command mode flags, we do not have to worry about such an
    ambiguity during and after transition.

Re: [PATCH] notes: add `rm` and `delete` commands

[Adam Dinwoodie]

On Friday 10 November 2017 at 12:14 pm +0900, Junio C Hamano wrote:
> Eric Sunshine <sunshine@sunshineco.com> writes:
> 
> > or against the change:
> >
> >     - synonym bloat; balloons documentation
> >     - steals command verbs from potential future features
> >     - ...
> 
> I tend to agree with these two (and if I were to replace the "..."
> with something concrete, this change is not desirable because it
> will force us to add all these three when we introduce "remove"
> elsewhere in the system).
> 
> Having said that, this remids me of an age-old topic we discussed in
> a distant past but stalled due to lack of strong drive, which is:
> 
>     Some git subcommands take command verb (e.g. "git notes 'remove'")
>     while others take command mode flags (e.g. "git branch --delete"),
>     and the users need to remember them, which is not ideal.
> 
> I think the consensus back then, if we were to aim for consistency
> by uniformly using only one of the two, is to use the command mode
> flags, simply because existing commands that have the primary mode
> and take an optional command mode flag [*1*] cannot be migrated to
> the command verb UI safely and sanely.
> 
> And then, if we are not careful when we standardize all subcommands
> to take command mode flags, we might end up with a situation where
> some subcommand say "--remove" while other say "--delete", and some
> users will wish to rectify that situation by adding an alias defined
> for these flags---I view this patch as a part of that possible
> future topic ;-).

My motivation was entirely "these were the commands I tried before I
tried `remove` when I wanted to delete a note."  I think both have
precedence in Git with the likes of `git rm` and `git branch --delete`,
although you're entirely correct that I should have at least added that
justification in the commit message.

The matter of which verbs and which flags work where is clearly a much
broader concern.  However at the moment Git uses `rm`, `remove` and
`delete` with no apparent (at least to me) logic about which is used
where, and it seems to me that adding each as synonyms of the other
across the entire suite would improve usability.

In particular, I don't think I buy the argument that it steals verbs: I
can't imagine wanting to use multiple of those verbs in the same context
with different meanings, as that seems liable to cause significant
confusion.

That said, I do get the argument about UI and documentation bloat.  From
my perspective, the cost of that is less than the benefit of having a
more consistent interface, and this is something we can do to have a
more consistent interface *now* without waiting for a larger future
consistency project, but YMMV, and I'm very willing to bow to everyone
else's expertise on this.