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Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

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Re: Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

#51

Post by [deleted] »

why-el wrote: post #46
mjs wrote: post #35

It's instructive to read Linus's commits to his hobby project "subsurface": https://github.com/torvalds/subsurface/commits/master Even if I can't code like Linus, I can at least try to write commit messages like his…

It always puzzled me why his commits (and in fact standard commits) ought to start with a verb that is not in its past form. When I started using git four months ago (such a newbie), I would write something like "Fixed this" instead of "Fix this". Anybody with more insights on this? I am just curious.

[deleted]

Re: Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

#52

Post by bitops »

From his "subsurface" project README.

Also, please write good git commit messages. A good commit message looks like this:

Header line: explaining the commit in one line

Body of commit message is a few lines of text, explaining things in more detail, possibly giving some background about the issue being fixed, etc etc.

The body of the commit message can be several paragraphs, and please do proper word-wrap and keep columns shorter than about 74 characters or so. That way "git log" will show things nicely even when it's indented.

Reported-by: whoever-reported-it Signed-off-by: Your Name

Re: Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

#53

Post by viraptor »

bad_user wrote: post #38
bermanoid wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You only love the style because he has enough on his side to back it up. Anyone else that acted like Linus does on a regular basis would be considered childish and arrogant. I'd take Github's version of any feature, any day, over the official git version, any time they differed - Git is a notoriously user-hostile piece of software interface-wise, and pretty much the only thing it has going for it on the usability fro…

Git is a notoriously user-hostile piece of software interface-wise It's funny you say that, because Git is the only version control system where working with branches, forks and merges in big projects is not only doable, but in 90% of the cases painless. You can't really appreciate Git until you've tried doing the same tasks in Perforce, SVN and CVS. No other similar software has the same painless approach to branchi…

> Also, Git is freakishly fast and efficient. Much like C, an interface done with taste

I don't agree with the second claim and the first one does not explain it being that way. What is so tasteful about this:

    # delete
    git remote rm ...
    git branch -D ...
    git tag -d ...
    git rm ...

    # rename
    git remote rename old new
    git branch -m old new
    # can't git tag ...
    git mv
No - it may be useful, it may be fast, it may be efficient. But the interface sucks completely and is very inconsistent both between the commands and in what is each command's responsibility.

Re: Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

#54

Post by [deleted] »

purephase wrote: post #47
why-el wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It always puzzled me why his commits (and in fact standard commits) ought to start with a verb that is not in its past form. When I started using git four months ago (such a newbie), I would write something like "Fixed this" instead of "Fix this". Anybody with more insights on this? I am just curious.

It is part of the git best practices: http://git.kernel.org/?p=git/git.git;a=blob;f=Documentation/...

[deleted]

Re: Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

#55

Post by rit »

Fun Fact:

If you tack '.patch' onto the end of a Pull Request you get a 'git am' compatible patch file complete with the email address that Linus complains is missing ;)

https://github.com/torvalds/linux/pull/17.patch

EDIT: I should note this works on any commit as well. Take this commit from Casbah (the Scala MongoDB driver I work on) - https://github.com/mongodb/casbah/commit/990a36fbde69db26689... - removing .patch gives you the normal web based github commit page.

Re: Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

#56

Post by [deleted] »

why-el wrote: post #46
mjs wrote: post #35

It's instructive to read Linus's commits to his hobby project "subsurface": https://github.com/torvalds/subsurface/commits/master Even if I can't code like Linus, I can at least try to write commit messages like his…

It always puzzled me why his commits (and in fact standard commits) ought to start with a verb that is not in its past form. When I started using git four months ago (such a newbie), I would write something like "Fixed this" instead of "Fix this". Anybody with more insights on this? I am just curious.

[deleted]

Re: Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

#57

Post by ajross »

spinlock wrote: post #39

Man, now I feel like a total hack. I love the github pull request. I do insist that my devs use a good style (i.e. first line is a summary and wrap at 80 chars) but I love the user interface for looking at diffs and doing a code review. I had no idea it was inferior until reading this and now I find myself in the awkward position that I don't care. Have I really become the guy who values an efficient team process mor…

The pull request as a mechanism for "here are some changes to look at" for a small project isn't the same thing as "Here are the USB stack changes for the 3.4 merge window".

The kernel has a mature, rigorous and well-defined development process[1]. Things that don't fit well into that model just aren't going to be successful, even if they work well in other contexts.

[1] http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git...

Re: Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

#58

Post by why-el »

gchpaco wrote: post #50
why-el wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It always puzzled me why his commits (and in fact standard commits) ought to start with a verb that is not in its past form. When I started using git four months ago (such a newbie), I would write something like "Fixed this" instead of "Fix this". Anybody with more insights on this? I am just curious.

If you think of the change set as the subject, so the question is 'what does this do?' and the answer is 'fix X' then it makes more sense. Past tense suggests you might be thinking of it as a journal or something that you're not supposed to do with git due to rebase etc.; each commit ought to stand on its own. That said I don't think this is significant enough to add up to a compelling reason either way.

Your point about rebase is compelling enough for me. :) I thoroughly missed that. Thanks.

Re: Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

#59

Post by [deleted] »

bermanoid wrote: post #24
lobo_tuerto wrote: post #3

I hope the github folks get involved in this. I'm specially interested in what they have to say about why they decided to go with what Linus calls _their own totally inferior version_. Love this no-nonsense style, but let me say that it's no only the style, but that Linus has enough on his side to back it up.

You only love the style because he has enough on his side to back it up. Anyone else that acted like Linus does on a regular basis would be considered childish and arrogant. I'd take Github's version of any feature, any day, over the official git version, any time they differed - Git is a notoriously user-hostile piece of software interface-wise, and pretty much the only thing it has going for it on the usability fro…

[deleted]

Re: Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

#60

Post by geoffhill »

spinlock wrote: post #39

Man, now I feel like a total hack. I love the github pull request. I do insist that my devs use a good style (i.e. first line is a summary and wrap at 80 chars) but I love the user interface for looking at diffs and doing a code review. I had no idea it was inferior until reading this and now I find myself in the awkward position that I don't care. Have I really become the guy who values an efficient team process mor…

Don't sweat it; Linus's needs are far different from the rest of us. We're talking about the guy here who made Git just to have a tool that perfectly conformed to his ideal kernel development process. Since his job is basically to be a full-time pull request approver, it makes sense that he would be extremely specific about the format to improve his efficiency.
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