On Mon, Oct 25, 2010 at 09:50:41AM -0400, C. Michael Pilato wrote: > On 10/25/2010 09:39 AM, Stefan Sperling wrote: > > On Mon, Oct 25, 2010 at 01:16:29PM +0100, Julian Foad wrote: > >> Do we need both "--strip-count" and "--strip" as aliases? I think > >> "--strip" is sufficient; the word "count" doesn't add much. "--strip" > >> matches GNU patch. Fewer aliases -> better. > > > > The word "count" adds something when you're looking at all options > > in isolation of their subcommands (option names are global). > > I agree, to a point. It's not as if we display the --strip-count option > anywhere except in the usage message of the one context where it is valid, > though. > > > The --strip-count name matches the variable name in the code. > > Er... This is a non-reason. :-)
It's not a non-reason because there is no good reason for not naming things in a consistent way. Consistency between the API and the CLI interface is good. It's not terribly important, but consistency in naming things does make a difference if you try to follow a code path from the very top (CLI client) to the very bottom of Subversion (e.g. libsvn_wc). Any inconsistency your encounter during that journey presents a mental hoop you need to jump through in order to continue the journey. > I don't think it's so terribly important to match the 'patch' command's > option name with our option's primary name, but it's a nice-to-have > achievable via the option aliases. If we're going to go that route, though, > then we should choose an option's primary name as if there was nothing else > to model after. I mean, is --strip-count as descriptive as it can be, or > would something else serve better? --strip-components-count? > --ignore-path-components-count? The need for such long names originates from the fact that options in Subversion are global, rather than specific to a subcommand. Because option names by themselves aren't tied to a context it's hard to predict whether some other subcommand might want to use the same or a similarly named option some day. Anyway, let's keep aliases as short-hands for interactive use, rather than as alternative long-option names. I'm fine with renaming --strip-count to --strip and aliasing it to --st. Or maybe not even bother with aliasing it since --strip is reasonably short anyway. Stefan
