Should bzr aliases possibly be in their own file?

[Tom Browder]

On Wed, Oct 13, 2010 at 11:48, Vincent Ladeuil <v.ladeuil+lp at free.fr> wrote:
...
>    >> On the other hand defining a new set of files for aliases may not be the
>    >> best solution either.

I have looked a little more closely at the discussion with your
project and think that there might be a use there for my new file
scheme.  The files I've mentioned (except the "session" file) are
essentially hard-wired files and should normally, IMHO, never be
changed on a session (or rewrite) basis.  My "session" file (or files
if need be) would be the perfect place to put changes with your 'bzr
config' command and that file could be deleted (or reverted) if things
get out of hand.

Instead of *ALIASES environment variables there might be equivalent
ones for the other configuration files if needed, or go back to using
the section scheme instead of alias-specific files.  Then the file
list might look like this:

$BZR_SYSTEM_CONFIG           # has sections for various config stuff,
including aliases
$BZR_HOME/bazaar.conf            # as used now
$BZR_HOME/locations.conf         # as used now
$BZR_HOME/authentication.conf  # as used now
$BZR_USER_CONFIG                # has sections for various config
stuff, including aliases
$BZR_HOME/bazaar.conf.session-modified
$BZR_HOME/locations.conf.session-modified
$BZR_HOME/authentication.conf.session-modified

That's only two new files (optional at that) plus one to three new
files if the user changes things on the fly.

That whole mess might be simplified by munging all back into one type
of config file with all config stuff under appropriate section
headings.  Then we would have:

$BZR_SYSTEM_CONFIG           # has sections for various config stuff,
including aliases
$BZR_HOME/bazaar.conf            # has sections for various config
stuff, including aliases
$BZR_USER_CONFIG                # has sections for various config
stuff, including aliases
$BZR_HOME/bazaar.conf.session-modified

Just a thought....

-Tom