On config files and aliases

[Matthew D. Fuller]

In advance, I'm going to suggest "yes" and "no" as the answers to the
following questions, but on the latter I think it should be a
conscious decision to go with "no".


First question: Should bzr create its primary config file
(~/.bazaar/bazaar.conf) if it doesn't exist?  It's kinda nice to have
/something/ there no matter what.  Filling it in with the default
email address (whether from env vars or from the user at host) would also
make it easier to point somebody at exactly what to change where; it's
nicer than saying "Create this directory, then create this file in
that directory, then precisely follow this format".  Easier to say
"Edit this file and change the email".  This comes up particularly at
the moment in relation to...


Second: We have command aliases now, settable in the config file
per-user, which have a superset of the capabilities of built-in
aliases[0].  What if we moved all the existing command aliases over to
be managed in that format?  Problem: It would require writing out the
'default' set when created (as above), as well as requiring edits in
existing configs.  Potentially bigger problem: The alias set is locked
in when the user first runs the command, irregardless of later
upgrades (or we try incredibly nasty and fragile rewriting crap).

Really, there are so many reasons to answer "no" on that, that it's
hardly even worth considering (which is probably why nobody has
publically).  If it weren't for the generally twitchy feeling I get
seeing essentially the same thing done in two different ways in
parallel, I wouldn't either.  But, as above, I think it deserves a
public beating before being laid to rest.



[0] One difference is that "bzr help <alias>" doesn't currently work
    (and making it evaluate in the same way can be difficult; think
    loops).  "bzr <alias> --help" does, though.  Actually, a "bzr
    aliases" command to list aliases, and "bzr aliases <alias>" to
    show what it evaluates out to, would be nice, and then on top of
    that "bzr help <alias>" could show the expansion, then the help
    for the command it points to.  Haha!  And it should cure the
    common cold, and whiten your teeth while you sleep!


-- 
Matthew Fuller     (MF4839)   |  fullermd at over-yonder.net
Systems/Network Administrator |  http://www.over-yonder.net/~fullermd/
           On the Internet, nobody can hear you scream.