Pager in core should be enabled by default

[Pierre-Yves David]

On 11/24/2015 06:46 PM, Bryan O'Sullivan wrote:
> Pierre-Yves pointed out that the migration of the pager extension to
> core hg also implictly enables it.
>
> The purpose of the migration is to reduce the amount of tweaking needed
> to get a useful installation. With pager as an extension, we need
> typically two lines of config – we load the extension, and then it's
> always on.
>
> If pager is in core but not enabled by default, it achieves nothing from
> a config reduction standpoint. We still need two lines of config to
> enable it, at a net benefit of zero.

I'm definitely not fan of having pager on by default. I like my command 
line to be a series of commands with predictable behavior and backlog.

But, before diving too much into that the pro/cons pager discussion, I 
would like to point that this is probably a Sprint-Worthy discussion 
where people could have a face to face discussion about that and come to 
a final conclusion instead of using the traditional open-source mailing 
list way of people getting frustrated at each other by email. That said, 
gathering opinions, arguments and data before such sprint discussion is 
worthwhile.



Meanwhile, there is plenty of way to move forward.

* First, even if the configuration amount is the same, turning on an 
official "ui" flag looks much more official than the scary "extensions" 
world. So having it in core is already a win here,

* Second, there is at least one command where it will be easy to get an 
agreement for a default pager: `hg help`. Unlike the others mercurial 
commands, `hg help` is always going to be screens long and the top part 
is usually what people are looking for. Having pager on by default there 
would follow the `man` behavior and significantly improve users experience.

* Finally, while not really in need of pager myself (because my output 
are small and backlog is a thing), there is certainly case where I know 
I'm about to unleash a massive output on me. I would be happy to have an 
always ready flag (-P?) to use instead of "| pager"


Summary:

- Let's prepare and efficient discussion about this for the next sprint 
(in March?). Changing the default should be a 5 Bytes change at that point.

- There is some easy step we could take to improve the situation without 
drastic changes, let's get them done first.

Cheers,

-- 
Pierre-Yves David