branch: Repository KnitPackRepository is not compatible with repository KnitRepository

[Ben Finney]

John Arbash Meinel <john at arbash-meinel.com> writes:

> Talden wrote:
> |>  Is it unreasonable of me to expect that *any* format supported in a
> |>  Bazaar release (despite "no-one was supposed to use" it) should be
> |>  upgrade supported in later versions?
> |
> | If a given format were labeled as experimental then yes I think the
> | expectation of that support would be excessive.
> |
> | I think it's great that the opportunity to try new formats is
> | available (for users planning a future migration and for the project
> | needing more exposure for testing) but for those formats, the project
> | shouldn't be burdened unconditionally with complete support.

"Here it is, but don't use it" is a rather dubious way of saying "not
supported".

> | That lack of support should also, of course, not burden users by
> | failing to communicate to them the experimental nature of a given
> | option.
> |
> | Did the help for 'init-repo' clearly explain the experimental nature
> | of the format in that version?

I don't know, I didn't use 'init-repo' to get that format. It was,
IIRC, a 'bzr upgrade --format=FOO' that was recommended to me by
(someone I took to be) a member of the Bazaar project.

Now, of course the caveats about executing commandlines handed out via
IRC apply here. I would argue just as strongly that, if a format isn't
intended to be used except for experimentation, it shouldn't be part
of a general release.

> Actually, the format was not listed by 'bzr help init-repo' it was a
> hidden format that the user would have to have other knowledge to
> even know that it existed.

That "other knowledge" came in <URL:irc://chat.freenode.net/#bzr> in
response to a request for help that is now long-forgotten.

I'm not looking to cast blame, but merely to point out the negative
and, in my case, enduring consequences of having a "please don't press
this button" function in the released product. Even if I have no
desire to press that button, it can easily happen by accident.

-- 
 \              “Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does |
  `\           knowledge.” —Charles Darwin, _The Descent of Man_, 1871 |
_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney