Re: [Quilt-dev] Using Quilt with other SCM

[Jean Delvare]

Hi Thomas, Josh,

> > I'm using Quilt to prepare a stack of patches that I then selectively
> > commit (when there are ready) to the non-distributed SCM of my team. Of
> > course, I only commit the patches that are at the bottom of the stack:
> > (...)
> > Would it be possible to have a command like "quilt drop" (or an option
> > to "quilt delete") that removes a patch from the series without actually
> > poping it and touching the working copy ?
> 
> I sent a patch for something like this quite a while ago.  There was
> some decent discussion on it, but I haven't had time to really address
> some of the issues that were brought up.
> 
> Perhaps if you look back in the archives you might find something worth
> while.

If I remember properly, the main issue with your proposed
implementation was that it wasn't user-error-proof enough. It was
assuming that the user was doing exactly the right thing, rather than
properly preventing him/her from screwing up.

This drop command can only be added to quilt if it is safe to use. This
suggests that the following two assertions are verified:
1* Only the bottom-most patch can be dropped.
2* No other applied patch further in the series must modify any file
modified by the to-be-dropped patch.

Rule 1 could be extended to the N bottom-most patches (if the user wants
to merge several quilt patches and commit them all at once in his/her
SCM of choice). However, it is probably safer to only let the user drop
one patch at once, and have him/her run the command as many times as
needed.

Rule 2 may be easily enforced by only allowing the drop command to be
used when no other patches are applied.

We also want an option to backup the dropped patch, like the delete
command has.

Thanks,
-- 
Jean Delvare