Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Fixing a log message post hoc

[David Allouche]

On Mon, Jun 07, 2004 at 09:38:24AM -0500, Charles Duffy wrote:
> On Sat, 2004-06-05 at 18:59, Juliusz Chroboczek wrote:
> > Is there any way I can fix a typo in a log message?  What will happen
> > to mirrors?
> 
> I agree with everyone who says it's a bad idea... but:
> 
> Perhaps you could generate a new changeset that modifies the patchlog
> entry? That won't change it in the old changesets, but I'd expect that
> it *will* change it in the generated changelog, and likely some other
> places.
> 
> Wait for folks here to expound on why this is a Bad Idea before
> implementing it, please -- but it might not be *quite* as bad as some of
> the other (archive-modifying) suggestions.

That would be the way I would be doing it.

It does not involve changing history, good.

The only problems is that it breaks a subtle invariant: for a given
revision "cat-log", when it succeeds, is expected always to give the
same output, which is the output of "cat-archive-log". In principle,
in-tree logs are useful only by their presence, their content is meant
only as a convenient cache.

I previously had a discussion about that exact same issue. And I would
prefer if that invariant would be relaxed and if the cases where cat-log
and cat-archive-log are used. But it seems that is not going to happen.

-- 
                                                            -- ddaa