Re: Removing rollback from VC mode - request for comment

[David Kastrup]

"Eric S. Raymond" <address@hidden> writes:

> Steinar Bang <address@hidden>:
>> > You could allow git rollback for branches that are only local (ie. not a
>> > tracking branch for a remote).
>> 
>> Or maybe better: disallow rollback if the current branch is a tracking
>> branch, that is up to date with the remote branch it is tracking.
>
> I could.  But step back from those details for a moment and consider
> the larger picture.
>
> The VC Git support is now about ten years old.  In all that time, the
> fact that Ctrl-x v c is not bound to git reset seems never to have
> been reported as a bug or wishlist item.  This suggests to me that
> there is little or no demand for the feature.
>
> Furthermore (and this is new information, I didn't know it when I
> wrote the RFC) the Texinfo documentation contains this comment:
>
> @c `C-x v c' (vc-rollback) was removed, since it's RCS/SCCS specific.
>
> Looks like somebody else noticed this feature was a vermiform appendix.
>
> I probably wouldn't be gunning for rollback if it weren't a history eraser.
> But the fact that it is one means that leaving it in will have a cost
> measured in the number of users who shoot self in foot.
>
> Given that, I don't think "we *could* support it in Git" is adequate in
> the absence of user demand for it.  Anyone can correct me on this by
> showing evidence of such demand.

git rebase -i is rollback on steroids and is definitely seeing a lot of
active use.  Rollback by itself is not all that interesting.

-- 
David Kastrup