Re: [gentoo-dev] On banning merge commits

["Andreas K. Hüttel" <dilfridge@gentoo.org>]

Am Sonntag, 8. Mai 2016, 01:52:22 schrieb Patrice Clement:
>
> What is the correct course of action? I would very much like it to be
> worded in a document (GLEP and/or Wiki page) so that confusion is avoided
> and we all are on the same page on this topic.
> 

OK here's my 2ct: 

* I'm not opposed to merge commits in principle, and see a few cases where 
they have advantages.

* Git has the provisions for nonlinear history, and just not liking spaghetti 
is no sufficient reason to castrate the entire version control system.

* However... as the past months have shown, when using merges it is much 
easier to accidentally mess up the entire tree than using rebases alone.

* So, in an ideal world we would use merges wisely and sparingly.

* In the real world, we risk less and also lose less if we ban and technically 
prevent them.

* The only alternative would be to come up with criteria for merges and 
actually enforce them (meaning, if you mess up the tree more than twice you 
lose your push access. Hello QA.).

-- 
Andreas K. Hüttel
Gentoo Linux developer (council, perl, libreoffice)
dilfridge@gentoo.org
http://www.akhuettel.de/