MQ usability

[Peter Williams]

On 16/08/09 20:17, Dirkjan Ochtman wrote:
> On Sun, Aug 16, 2009 at 05:06, Peter Williams<pwil3058 at bigpond.net.au>  wrote:
>> Also there's no suggestion that exported patch series should only be in
>> patch(1) format.  The ability to export --git formatted patch series
>> should also be possible.  The key point I'm trying to make is that there
>> should be an MQ command for exporting PATCH SERIES tar/zip files (rather
>> than tarring/zipping .hg/patches).  Whether to use --git format or
>> patch(1) format should be a selectable option for this command.
>
> I think the people who want that kind of functionality (or rather more
> broadly, require any interoperability with quilt or other tools from
> their queue management tool) definitely constitute a minority in the
> population of mq users.

MQ was inspired by quilt et al (read the manual) to meet the same needs. 
  The fact that it's also useful for others with different needs (now 
apparently the majority) doesn't mean that the original purpose should 
be abandoned.

I have also noted that many proposals for modifications to Mercurial are 
submitted as patch series rather than single patches.  Usually, because 
a series of small patches is easier to understand/digest than one big 
patch.  The fact that these are usually sent as a series of mail 
messages rather than as a tar/zip patches directory (with series file) 
is just a minor variation in the output format (with what would have 
been the contents of the series file now implicit in the order of the 
e-mails).  So I'm not the only one who sees the usefulness of a 
exporting patch series.

Peter
-- 
Peter Williams                                   pwil3058 at bigpond.net.au

"Learning, n. The kind of ignorance distinguishing the studious."
  -- Ambrose Bierce