Issue 109: mtn au get_extended_manifest_of Should Default To Current Workspace Like get_manifest_of Does

Reported by Tony Cooper, Nov 20, 2010

get_extended_manifest_of should behave like get_manifest_of in that 
if no revision is given then the details from the current workspace 
are used.

Why? - Consistency.

Cheers,

Tony.

Output of `mtn version --full`:
-------------------------------
monotone 0.99.1 (base revision: 
8973482283db7c36780dce2b54721ccc0f5b7388)
Running on          : Linux 2.6.9-34.EL #1 Sun Mar 19 13:34:16 CST 
2006 i686
C++ compiler        : GNU C++ version 4.3.2
C++ standard library: GNU libstdc++ version 20080905
Boost version       : 1_40
SQLite version      : 3.5.9 (compiled against 3.5.9)
Lua version         : Lua 5.1
PCRE version        : 7.6 2008-01-28 (compiled against 7.6)
Botan version       : 1.8.9 (compiled against 1.8.9)
Changes since base revision:
format_version "1"

new_manifest [c1270158b7fa91abf8235ad129b0476943bde1ed]

old_revision [8973482283db7c36780dce2b54721ccc0f5b7388]

  Generated from data cached in the distribution;
  further changes may have been made.

Comment 1 by Stephen Leake, Nov 20, 2010

In general, automate commands don't have default arguments. The 
design is that automate commands are used by front-end tools, which 
can easily provide all the required parameters.

It also simplifies the testing, to not have to test defaults.

Comment 2 by Tony Cooper, Nov 20, 2010

Ok fair enough, but why does get_manifest_of not do the same? I 
think it's a pity to have this inconsistency.

Comment 3 by Thomas Keller, Nov 20, 2010

Hi Tony!

The reason why get_extended_manifest_of doesn't work with only a 
workspace given is because its output would have to deal with 
workspace changes which happened since the base revision. The old 
get_roster command did that and produced something halfwhat usable, 
but the file size output which we "attach" afterwards to 
the roster format is not easily possible in this scenario and trust 
me, many parts of mtn's internal roster code still scare me and 
would you as well, so I decided to not touch them.

The result is a compromise - have one (extended) format for 
committed changesets and use inventory for uncommitted / workspace 
changesets. We can easily add more fields to inventory from the 
roster if needed (right now the most prominent "recent" 
addition was the birth revision stanza), but I'd do that on 
individual request.

Thomas.

Comment 4 by Tony Cooper, Nov 24, 2010

Hia Thomas,

No that's fine, I understand. I guess the idea of removing the 
potentially useful `default to workspace' feature of 
get_manifest_of() for the sake of consistency is a step in the wrong 
direction.

I have marked this ticket as wont-fix so as to save further time 
being wasted on it.

Cheers,

Tony.

Status: WontFix