Re: cleanups with long-term benefits

[Cornelia Huck]

On Wed, 5 Aug 2020 11:08:02 +0100
Daniel P. Berrangé <berrange@redhat.com> wrote:

> On Wed, Aug 05, 2020 at 11:11:55AM +0200, Cornelia Huck wrote:
> > On Wed, 5 Aug 2020 10:05:40 +0100
> > Daniel P. Berrangé <berrange@redhat.com> wrote:
> >   
> > > On Wed, Aug 05, 2020 at 10:49:35AM +0200, Paolo Bonzini wrote:  
> > > > On 05/08/20 10:39, Dr. David Alan Gilbert wrote:    
> > > > >> Do you really use "git blame" that much?  "git log -S" does more or 
> > > > >> less
> > > > >> the same function (in a different way) and is not affected as much by
> > > > >> large code movement and transformation patches.    
> > > > >
> > > > > I use it a lot!   Following stuff back to find where a change came
> > > > > from and then asking people.    
> > > > 
> > > > Indeed, but I use "git log -S" instead. :)  Another possibility is to
> > > > just do "git log -p" and search for a relevant line of the code I'm
> > > > "blaming".    
> > > 
> > > I used git blame alot too, but I don't think its a reason to not do the
> > > cleanups. It is easy enough to just tell blame to use an earlier commit
> > > if you see it displaying a refactor. I don't think such mild inconvenience
> > > should stop us making otherwise desirable code changes  
> > 
> > I don't think people argue that it should block changes; it it simply
> > another thing to consider when weighing benefits vs. drawbacks.  
> 
> Actually, I'm saying that including "git blame" in such a weighing is
> the mechanism for blocking otherwise beneficial change to the code. Or
> to put it another way, I believe the value assigned to "git blame" in
> such a comparison is miniscule / effectively zero. The only time
> "git blame" should win is if the change in question is purely the
> bike shed colour and has no technical benefits at all.  If there's any
> technical benefit to making the change it should always win.  We
> shouldn't preserve technical debt in the code merely to avoid an impact
> on "git blame".

I think we have to agree to disagree on this. Making "git blame" harder
to use is annoying, and at least for me there's a threshold of
usefulness for the code change that should be considered. (No judgment
on the proposed change here; I don't have really have a horse in that
race.)