class 'intent' documentation

[Robey Pointer]

On 23 Dec 2005, at 9:25, Erik Bågfors wrote:

> 2005/12/23, John Yates <jyates at netezza.com>:
>> Thursday, December 22, 2005 11:19 PM Robert Collins wrote:
>>
>>> I've started some documentation about the key classes in bzrlib at
>>> http://bazaar.canonical.com/Classes.
>>
>> The Classes/Branch page opens with this description
>>
>>   A Branch is a key user concept - its a single line of history
>>   that one or more people have been committing to. A single CVS
>>   modules' MAIN is a branch, as is 'trunk/module' in svn.
>>
>> This crystallized for me my vague discomfort with the term "branch".
>> To me branch suggests development that is subordinate to some trunk,
>> a flavor of fork.
>
>
> I got the same reaction when showing ppl bzr.  If you want to follow a
> 'branch'(using bzr branch and bzr pull), at least one person got
> confused by the command 'bzr branch', because he claimed that he
> didn't want to create a new branch, he just wanted to 'get' the branch
> to follow it.
>
> In general, I don't think that there is anything wrong with the
> therminology, but it has to be clearly defined.  I think no matter how
> you twist and turn branch/repository/archives/etc, there is a chance
> for confusion.

I kinda like using the term "branch", because it really emphasizes  
the decentralized nature: there *may not be* a main trunk.  It also  
implies that even though you may just be following someone else's  
branch, you're automatically prepared to make your own commits  
without any extra work.

Maybe this will get better when checkouts are implemented.

robey