Repository referencing in command lines (was Re: 08:16 < abentley> Better phrasing: [...])

[Aaron Bentley]

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Matthew D. Fuller wrote:
>>I think we should support paths in the repos, just like svn for
>>example, so you can have
>>REPODIR/trunk
>>REPODIR/branches/0.9
>>etc....
> 
> 
> Please, no.  That's high on the list of reasons I skipped SVN
> altogether.

Could you expand on this?  It seems like using '/' as a separator in
branch names is as reasonable as '.'.  e.g. REPODIR/bzr/dev,
REPODIR/apache/1.3, instead of REPODIR/bzr.dev, REPODIR/apache.1.3.  Of
course, it's not mandatory, but some people will have enough stuff in
their reposistories that a naming hierarchy will make sense for them.

This doesn't imply the the repo has anything other than .bzr directories
in the branch directories.

> I'd be tempted to make the repo-variant a
> flag; something like "bzr init --repo=/foo/bar" instead.


bzr init traditionally creates a branch in the cwd.  You're saying you
want 'bzr init --repo=/foo/bar' to do nothing the the cwd at all?

> As a side point, I'd also push heavily for a $BZR_REPO or such
> environmental variable.  

I'd agree.  Robert Collins will vehemently disagree.  Guess we'll have
to have a cage match.

> Some possibilities:
> 
> - Breaking into multiple args.  Example:
>   "bzr branch FROMREPO FROMBRANCH TOREPO TOBRANCH"
>   This is FULL of problems; it means wildly different meanings for the
>   args based on whether FROM and TO are standalone or repos, for one
>   thing.  It's a pain to type, and it takes a lot of work for the eye
>   to parse.  For that reason, I discard this.
> 
> 
> - URL-ish forms.  "bzr branch repo://foo/bar[...]"  This doesn't
>   actually solve the "how do you denominate a branch within a repo"
>   question, and also blows up when you want to access a repo over SFTP
>   or bzr+ssh or such methods.  So that's a non-starter.
> 

I think actual URL forms are the best:
 "bzr branch http://foo/bar/bzr/dev"

Aaron
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