Opinion: Versioned files should be visible by default

Tue Mar 11 11:31:43 GMT 2008

jm> I'm pretty sure that .bzrignore is the only file that is not visible 
by default.

It is, but will no longer be once .bzreol or a similar name is used for 
the EOL pre-commit hook settings.  I can imagine more, similar files in 
the future.

jm> .bzrignore follows the same convention as .cvsignore, .hgignore and 
.gitignore
True, there is a convention there that users from those systems can reuse.
The Bazaar User Guide describes Bazaar as redoing distributed style 
versioning "right":

http://doc.bazaar-vcs.org/bzr.dev/en/user-guide/index.html#introducing-bazaar
"1.1.2   A brief history of version control systems"
"5. tree versioning tools - distributed style, done right, e.g. Bazaar. "

-- which I would agree is the better approach to take than imitation.  The 
approach of redoing it right gives heavier weight to greater correctness 
than to following prior convention.

jm> Also consider that by default we have .bzr which matches .svn, .svn, 
and .git.
Yes it follows their convention and is contrary to convention for CVS.
I didn't address .bzr because I think it's different in nature.  It's the 
framework that allows travel in the time dimension.  Other things that 
change as one travels the time dimension aren't in .bzr, as far as I am 
aware.  For example, when you change versions on your branch or checkout, 
the stored 'push branch' doesn't change.

jm> I think most systems default to having the ignore files hidden, 
because they are
jm> considered "extra" properties that aren't directly part of the system 
being
jm> versioned.

I think that is valid aspect of the issue.

mp>So it's really the shell that is hiding them, and that suggests that
mp>maybe the problem is best addressed in the shell, eg with
mp>    alias ls=ls\ -A
Yes, it can be addressed in the shell and other programs. Considering 
that, I still think that the best approach is to not have such files 
hidden (to programs hiding filenames starting with "." ).  One can change 
their configuration to circumvent the default hiding or use other 
workarounds, and then one loses convenience.  What is more effort to work 
around is the loading of the hidden files from the open dialogs in some 
(most?) editors, though one can likewise argue that those editors should 
be fixed.

Even if this and my previous mail don't convince that Bazaar should
give non-hidden(to other applications) names to versioned files,
thank you for having seriously considered the issue.

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