[PATCH] util: set the hidden attribute on .hg/ during creation on windows (issue4178)

[Matt Mackall]

On Sat, 2014-03-08 at 01:15 +0100, Adrian Buehlmann wrote:
> On 2014-03-07 22:54, Matt Mackall wrote:
> > On Fri, 2014-03-07 at 16:10 -0500, Augie Fackler wrote:
> >> On Mar 7, 2014, at 2:43 PM, Matt Mackall <mpm at selenic.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>> On Fri, 2014-02-21 at 16:31 +0000, Ed Morley wrote:
> >>>> # HG changeset patch
> >>>> # User Ed Morley <emorley at mozilla.com>
> >>>> # Date 1392999130 0
> >>>> #      Fri Feb 21 16:12:10 2014 +0000
> >>>> # Node ID e74d0479759cbea6edb632273345d55f96374d70
> >>>> # Parent  0e2877f8605dcaf4fdf2ab7e0046f1f6f80161dd
> >>>> util: set the hidden attribute on .hg/ during creation on windows (issue4178)
> >>>>
> >>>> Windows has no concept of dotfiles/directories being hidden - instead, it
> >>>> requires that a file-is-hidden attribute be set. This patch adds an optional
> >>>> parameter to util.makedir/util.makedirs - which is used to set the hidden
> >>>> attribute when the .hg directory is created on Windows.
> >>>>
> >>>> This has the advantage that both the OS filesystem search & also editors
> >>>> grepping repositories can easily exclude the .hg directory, without needing to
> >>>> exclude it manually every time.
> >>>
> >>> I think 9 years in, this is probably too surprising a change. We could
> >>> have done this out of the gate.. but no one cared enough to even mention
> >>> it for the first 7 years.
> >>
> >> OOC, why? It's already hidden on all other platforms, and that strikes
> >> me as a Good Thing.
> > 
> > Why what? Why has basically no one cared to date? I can't answer that.
> > 
> > Why is it too big of a surprise? Because suddenly you can't navigate
> > to .hg/hgrc in Explorer and file|open dialogs in editors.
> > 
> > More generally, I'd say it's a matter of OS culture. Dealing with hidden
> > files is an everyday situation for typical Unix users, whereas I expect
> > it's a quite rare and surprising occurrence for Windows users. I think
> > if .hg suddenly disappears from new repos, the average Windows dev won't
> > just say "oh, it's probably just hidden now", instead they'll suffer
> > hours/days of confusion.
> > 
> > Since we have about two people in all of recorded history asking for it,
> > the cost/benefit does not appear (remotely) favorable.
> 
> Perhaps a compromise could be made by setting the hidden flag on
> .hg/store on new repositories...

How is this not going to confuse/surprise a veteran hg user?

In the 9 years this project has existed, this super-obvious idea of
using the hidden attribute has come up only twice, so the demonstrated
demand/need for this feature is next to zero. Meanwhile, there's good
reason to believe this will confuse some users.

We like to add features where risk ~= 0 and reward/risk >> 1. This
feature has reward ~= 0 and risk/reward >> 1. It is basically the
opposite of the sort of change I'm likely to accept.

-- 
Mathematics is the supreme nostalgia of our time.