[Dctrl-tools-devel] Bug#525525: Bug#525525: Bug#525525: Bug#525525: Bug#525525: [PATCH] grep-dctrl: add --compact option

[Antti-Juhani Kaijanaho]

On Thu, Nov 03, 2011 at 03:15:13PM -0400, Jeff King wrote:
> Right. We deal with this all the time in git, and our usual approach is
> to introduce the new behavior as an option, let scripts who want that
> option use it, and deprecate the existing behavior for scripts, and then
> eventually flip the default. We can do that here. But it's a lot of
> work.

Yeah, I did a transition of that sort many years ago for the -c option.

> Whether it's worth it depends on how conservative you want to be with
> breaking existing scripts. I'm just a casual user of dctrl-tools, so I
> don't have a strong opinion on what's normal or what direction you want
> to take it. I'm just mentioning all the options as I see them.
> 
> Whatever happens, I just want to still be able to get the old behavior
> somehow. So I guess I'm asking what _you_ want, and then I'll code
> around that. ;)

I think I've seen enough evidence here that there actually are scripts and
users relying on the old behaviour.  That suggests reverting the change, but
some users have already adapted to this new behavious and any revert would
cause them trouble.

Then again, the change hasn't hit stable yet so it might be possible.

-- 
Antti-Juhani Kaijanaho, Jyväskylä, Finland
http://antti-juhani.kaijanaho.fi/newblog/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/antti-juhani/