[PATCH] tag: allow multiple tags to be added or removed

[John Coomes]

Matt Mackall (mpm at selenic.com) wrote:
> John Coomes wrote:
> > Thomas Arendsen Hein (thomas at intevation.de) wrote:
> >> * John Coomes <John.Coomes at sun.com> [20080223 09:33]:
> >>> Patch to allow multiple tags to be added/removed in a single invocation
> >>> of hg tag.  Basic example of the new usage is
> >> ...
> >> Generally we try to avoid singular vs. plural messages to make
> >> parsing such messages (automatically and by brain) easier.
> >>
> >>> +    abort_nonempty([n for n in names if n in ['tip', '.', 'null']],
> >>> +                   _('the name %s is reserved'),
> >>> +                   _('the names %s are reserved'))
> >> Maybe just loop over reserved names with singular message here.
> > 
> > Would this be acceptable?
> > 
> > 	$ hg tag -r 42 tip null
> > 	tag: the name 'tip' is reserved
> > 	tag: the name 'null' is reserved
> > 	abort: reserved tag name
> 
> It would be simpler if it just aborted on the first problem.

Definitely simpler, and the odds of multiple errors are pretty low
here, so I'll make the change.  I went down the path of listing all
errors because I get frustrated by compilers and other tools that give
up at the first error, only to make you rerun again to find the next
one.

> > Or if there is a recommended format for such messages, let me know.
> > 
> >>> +    tag_word = (len(names) > 1 and _('tags')) or _('tag')
> >> Some languages use singular for 21, 31, ... so this will get you (or
> >> others) in translation hell :)
> > 
> > I'll use i18n.t.ngettext() for this as suggested by Martin.
> 
> No, don't. We intentionally ignore the whole pluralization issue, it's 
> just not worth the complexity. For us or for parsers.

No problem.  Say we've run the commands "hg tag beta-1" and "hg tag
beta-2 build-24".  What should the respective commit messages look
like?

(a)	Added tag beta-1 for changeset abcdefabcdef
	Added tag beta-2, build-24 for changeset fedcbafedcba

(b)	Added tag beta-1 for changeset abcdefabcdef
	Added tag beta-2 and tag build-24 for changeset fedcbafedcba

(c)	Added tag(s) beta-1 for changeset abcdefabcdef
	Added tag(s) beta-2, build-24 for changeset fedcbafedcba

(a) is closest to the existing message, if just slightly ambiguous;
(b) is unambiguous, but a bit more verbose; (c) is a commonly-used but
unattractive variant listed for completeness.  I like (a) or (b), w/a
slight preference for (b).

-John