On Sun, Aug 7, 2016 at 7:12 AM, Michael S. Tsirkin <mst@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > On Fri, Aug 05, 2016 at 08:39:58AM -0700, Junio C Hamano wrote: >> "Michael S. Tsirkin" <mst@xxxxxxxxxx> writes: >> >> > On Thu, Sep 10, 2015 at 11:39:49AM -0700, Junio C Hamano wrote: >> >> The problem with "empty commit trick" is that it is a commit whose >> >> sole purpose is to describe the series, and its presence makes it >> >> clear where the series ends, but the topology does not tell where >> >> the series begins, so it is an unsatisifactory half-measure. >> > >> > Actually, when using topic branches the series always ends at head, so >> > it's better to keep the empty commit where series begins. >> >> But that would mean that you would need to destroy and recreate more >> commits than you would need to. If you have a five-commit series >> (with the bottom "description" one, you would have six commits) and >> you are already happy with the bottom two but want to update the >> third one, you wuld have to "rebase -i" all six of them, reword the >> bottom "description" to adjust it to describe the new version of the >> third one _before_ you even do the actual update of the third one. >> >> That somehow feels backwards, and that backward-ness comes from the >> fact that you abused a single-parent commit for the purpose it is >> not meant to be used (i.e. they are to describe individual changes), >> because you did not find a better existing mechanism (and I suspect >> there isn't any, in which case the solution is to invent one, not >> abusing an existing mechanism that is not suited for it). > > A flag that marks a commit "beginning of series" then? git-notes was mentioned in this thread back in 2015, but I think it's discarded because of the argument that's part of the cover letter was not meant to be kept permanently. But I think we can still use it as a local/temporary place for cover letter instead of the empty commit at the topic's tip. It is a mark of the beginning of commit, it does not require rewriting history when you update the cover letter, and git-merge can be taught to pick it up when you're ready to set it in stone. -- Duy -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe git" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html