Call for discussion: Phase names

[Na'Tosha Bard]

2012/1/9 Olav Reinert <seroton10 at gmail.com>

> Hi all,
>
> At the 2.1 mini-spring in Zürich last week-end, the names of the phases
> were discussed quite a lot, and it has also been a topic of much discussion
> here on the mailing list.
>
> In order to reach a useful consensus in time for the 2.1 code freeze in
> mid-January, Pierre-Yves DAVID from Logilab has asked me to organize a
> conclusive discussion to decide on the phase names to use in the final
> release.
>
>
> The current (unacceptable) naming scheme is as follows:
>
>    Name    Immutable   Shared
>    public      X         X
>    draft                 X
>    secret
>
> (Even though the names of the changeset properties assigned to the phases
> (immutable and shared) have also been debated, their meaning is not
> disputed.
>
> Most people seem to agree that "draft" is a good name for the middle
> phase, because it implies a work-in-progress that may be shared. The name
> "public" is disliked by some because it doesn't convey immutability, which
> is an important and distinguishing property of that phase. The name
> "secret" is disliked because to some it suggests enforcement of
> confidentiality (i.e., that it's safe to check in trade secrets or nuclear
> launch codes), which is not the case, and not intended, either.
>
>
> The phase names ought to conform to the rules described here:
>
>    <http://mercurial.selenic.com/wiki/StatesPlan#Naming>
>
> To summarize: The three phase names must have unique initial letters, and
> should preferably be short. Because we intend to use those initial letters
> as single-letter option names, they should not clash with other common
> options, such as -f (for --force); hence, phase names like "final" will
> face resistance. Finally, it is a plus if the name works in common UI
> sentences such as "Nothing to push but 42 secret changesets".
>
>
> Previously suggested naming schemes are:
>
>    complete / draft / private
>    public / draft / grounded
>    public / draft / jailed
>
>
> Alternative names suggested for the "public" phase:
>
>    complete, absolute
>
> Alternative names suggested for the "secret" phase:
>
>    personal, mine, isolated, tentative, shy, scratch, jailed, moored,
> anchored, grounded
>
>
> To kick off the discussion, my preferred naming scheme is the following:
>
>                Mutable Grounded
>    published
>    draft           X
>    grounded        X       X
>
> and I think the changeset properties should be changed to (mutable,
> grounded).
>
> I like the name "draft", and I like that the other two names are verbs in
> the past tense, because you arrive in such a phase due to some action.
> Also, "published" connotes something that's shared and immutable, whereas
> "grounded" means something that can change, but may not take off somewhere
> (think teenagers or airplanes).
>
> Note that I have also shown how the binary changeset properties are
> assigned to phase names, and how monotonicity is preserved (i.e.,
> consistent addition or removal of properties when moving through phases in
> one direction). If you wish to propose new names for the phase properties,
> you must provide a similar table, and your suggestion must also be
> monotonic.
>
>
> So, there it is - please get creative and submit your proposals.
> Hopefully, some consensus will form via the mailing list discussions. If
> not, perhaps we need to organize a vote. We will decide that towards the
> end of the week.
>

I prefer:

complete / draft / personal

"Complete" implies a changest is in its finished phase, and therefore won't
change.
"Draft" implies a changeset may still change, but can be shared with others.
"Personal" implies a changeset is specific to me, but does not imply any
kind of security or that the changeset is "hidden" from people who wish to
find it.

All three are simple English words that even non-English speakers with
limited knowledge of the language are likely to have a simple understanding
of.

Cheers,
Na'Tosha


-- 
*Na'Tosha Bard*
Build & Infrastructure Developer | Unity Technologies - Copenhagen

*E-Mail:* natosha at unity3d.com
*Skype:* natosha.bard
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