[Gnu-arch-users] "upgradeable" inventory id's

[Robert Anderson]

I think that in principle, it would be a tremendous improvement in
usability to allow inventory id's to be "upgradeable" in the sense that
you could take a "names" tag and make it into an "explicit" tag, or take
an "explicit" tag and make it into an "implicit" tag.

When starting a project, it is often not clear how much compromise is
appropriate in getting started quickly vs. investing in start-up for
possible pay-off later wrt to allowing "transparent" renaming, or even
renaming at all.

For example, I started exploring the idea recently of using arch to
control my /etc directory.  Even as a relatively experienced arch user I
wasn't certain whether I just wanted to use "names" or whether I wanted
to use "explicit".  There were a few trade-offs to consider, with no
clear winner.  What I _really_ wanted was to be able to make a
non-permanent decision and get on with my life.  (and even if you have a
strong opinion about which I should choose for this case, I think the
idea stands anyway.)

I think most people who have played with arch long enough have tried to
take an inventory id out of an .arch-ids dir and shove it in a file to
try to turn it into an implicit id.  You'll discover this isn't possible
because of some id-type dependent mangling procedures.

So, basically, I'm wondering aloud what would be involved in having this
capability.  Is it feasible, or are there constraints I'm not
considering?

Bob