linux-kernel - Re: email as a bona fide git transport

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Message-ID: <20191016205736.GA259536@google.com>
Date:   Wed, 16 Oct 2019 13:57:36 -0700
From:   Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@...il.com>
To:     Vegard Nossum <vegard.nossum@...cle.com>
Cc:     workflows@...r.kernel.org, Git Mailing List <git@...r.kernel.org>,
        LKML <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
        Konstantin Ryabitsev <konstantin@...uxfoundation.org>,
        Eric Wong <e@...24.org>
Subject: Re: email as a bona fide git transport

Hi,

A few small points.

Vegard Nossum wrote:

> * git am (or an alternative command) needs to recreate the commit
>   perfectly when applied, including applying it to the correct parent

Interesting.  "git format-patch" has a --base option to do some of
what you're looking for, for the sake of snowpatch
<https://github.com/ruscur/snowpatch>.  Though it's not exactly the
same thing you mean.

We also discussed sending merge commits by mail recently in the
virtual git committer summit[1].

Of course, the devil is in the details.  It's straightforward to use
"git bundle" to use mail as a Git transport today, but presumably you
also want the ability to perform reviews along the way and that's not
so easy with a binary format.  Do you have more details on what you'd
want the format to look like, particularly for merge commits?

[...]
>                                                                 there
> is no need for "changeset IDs" or whatever, since you can just use the
> git SHA1 which is unique, unambiguous, and stable.

In [2] the hope was for some identifier that is preserved by "git
rebase" and "git commit --amend" (so that you can track the evolution
of a change as the author improves it in response to reviews).  Is
that the conversation you're alluding to?

[...]
> Disadvantages:
>
> - requires patching git

That's not a disadvantage.  It means get to work with the Git project,
which is a welcoming bunch of people, working on userspace (seeing how
the other half lives), and improving the lives of everyone using Git.

[...]
> Date: Sat, 5 Oct 2019 16:15:59 +0200
> Subject: [PATCH 1/3] format-patch: add --complete
>
> Include the raw commit data between the changelog and the diffstat.

Oh!  I had missed this on first reading because it was in an
attachment.

I have mixed feelings.  Can you say a bit more about the advantages
and disadvantages relative to sending a git bundle?  What happens if a
mail client or a box along the way mangles whitespace in the commit
message?

Happy hacking,
Jonathan

[1] https://public-inbox.org/git/nycvar.QRO.7.76.6.1909261253400.15067@tvgsbejvaqbjf.bet/
[2] https://lore.kernel.org/ksummit-discuss/CAD=FV=UPjPpUyFTPjF-Ogzj_6LJLE4PTxMhCoCEDmH1LXSSmpQ@mail.gmail.com/