[plt-dev] Re: [plt] Push #20178: master branch updated

On May 10, Robby Findler wrote:
> I've tried to read your file, but it got pretty complicated and full
> of what seemed to be not so useful details, so I gave up (twice
> now).

Well, FWIW, I tried my best to make it useful, but probably the need
to have accurate descriptions made it more accurate.  Also, the reason
it took so much time is that I actually had to learn about all of the
little details, because I really wanted it to be practical and kind-of
complete.  (You can see the results of that on the git list...)


> I do plan to read the whole thing, but can you perhaps provide some
> more of a hint that's tailored to this situation?

I tried to write an executive summary, but it got long enough to
justify an executive^2 summary:

  * Setup: git config --global alias.up "pull --ff-only --stat --all"
  * Update before pushing with: git up
  * When it tells you that it failed, use: git rebase origin
    -- or if you have more substantial work: git merge origin
  * Push out as usual: git push

  and if you always push out single commits, you can make it easier
  with:

  * Setup: git config --global alias.up "pull --rebase --stat --all"
  * Update before pushing with: git up
  * Push out the rebased result with: git push

And here is the executive^1 summary:

* Run this:

    git config --global alias.up "pull --ff-only --stat --all"

  this gives you a new "git up" command that is the same as running
  "git pull ..."

  - the `--stat' flag will give you a quick by-file summary of the
    changes that you pulled
  - the `--all' flag will make it pull all branches (which is more
    relevant if you have your own repository with branches)
  - the `--ff-only' flag tells it to abort if it can't trivially
    advance your history to the point where the remote repo is at.

* The last one is the important point here: if you have local commits,
  it will not just blindly do a merge (which is the default, and the
  reason for those merges) -- instead, it will stop with:

    fatal: Not possible to fast-forward, aborting.

  At this point you could inspect the history of your commits and the
  ones you pulled -- I describe in the text a few ways to do this
  (look for that error message).  But usually you'll know where things
  stand -- my guess is that most people are still in the svn-mindset
  of pushing commits out quickly, so in most case you'll know that you
  have a single commit.  Also, since we're usually working on
  different things, you'll know that a merge will be trivial.

* As a result, in most cases you'll just run "git rebase origin" now,
  to rebase your commit, then ship it out.

* And finally, since this is the common use pattern at this point, you
  could just replace the `--ff-only' flag in the alias with
  `--rebase', and this will make your `git up' command rebase your
  work.

-- 
          ((lambda (x) (x x)) (lambda (x) (x x)))          Eli Barzilay:
                    http://barzilay.org/                   Maze is Life!