wip; branch name format

diff --git a/DESIGN b/DESIGN
index f03febbfa8019d4642e7e47b10939b8d963e74a0..bac524ca7bbefad5bf8a38b2536209ca4fb55578 100644 (file)
--- a/DESIGN
+++ b/DESIGN
@@ -144,7 +144,6 @@ Branch removal:
 Branch naming:
  needs to be globally unique
  so put email address in it
- also "tree" or "context" name, found automatically
 tg operations search for applicable branches
 safe charset for branch names
   . - / 0-9 a-z

diff --git a/FORMAT b/FORMAT
new file mode 100644 (file)
index 0000000..e9683bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/FORMAT
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+Topbloke branch is:
+       - branch in refs/topbloke-tips/<full-name>
+               contains the working version, fast-forwarding
+       - branch in refs/topbloke-bases/<full-name>
+               contains the base version, being the pulling
+               merge of all the bases
+
+In-tree, there are metadata files in .topbloke
+
+       msg             brach "commit message"
+
+       deps            direct dependencies, one per line
+
+       included        actual included branches, one per line
+
+       flags           flags that apply to this branch, one per line
+                        unknown flags starting with [a-z] are ok;
+                        otherwise fatal.  Currently defined flags:
+                               Deleted         branch is deleted
+
+
+<full-name> has the format:
+       <email>@<domain.name>/<yyyy>-<mm>-<dd>T<hh><mm><ss>Z/<nickname-path>
+where nickname-path's first component must not start with a digit 
+contain ~ or @  (: is not allowed in refs hence the squashing)
+eg
+       ijackson@chiark.greenend.org.uk/2012-01-20T225127Z/reorg/sponge
+NB only exactly that date format is allowed and timezone must be Z.
+
+Branches may be specified as
+       [<email>@[<domain.name>/][<date-spec>/]<nickname-path-spec>
+
+<nickname-path-spec> may be
+       <nickname-path>
+       ./<nickname-new-leaf-component>
+       ../<nickname-path-spec>
+
+<date-spec> may be
+       <approximate date spec containing at least one ~>
+               means all branches are candidates; when we come
+               to select, take the branch nearest that date rather than
+               the most recent; the date spec is intepreted by date -d
+               after ~s have been replaced by spaces
+       A prefix of the ISO8601 date spec, stopping just after a
+               numeric component (or at the end)
+
+So overall, if the current branch is
+       ijackson@chiark.greenend.org.uk/2011-08-20T120320Z/fixes/pudding
+then all of the following can refer to the same branch
+       ./sponge
+       ../reorg/sponge
+       reorg/sponge
+       2012/reorg/sponge
+       2012/reorg/sponge
+       2012/./sponge
+       jan~/./sponge
+       ijackson@/reorg/sponge
+       ijackson@/2012/reorg/sponge
+       ijackson@chiark.greenend.org.uk/reorg/sponge
+       ijackson@chiark.greenend.org.uk/2012-01-20T225127Z/reorg/sponge
+
+Search algorithm:
+       1. prefer branches with email address (or domain)
+          matching current branch
+       2. prefer branches with our own email address (or domain)
+       3. other branches
+Within this there may be branches with multiple dates; prefer the most
+recent.