On Thu, Apr 16, 2015 at 4:30 PM, Scott Robison <sc...@casaderobison.com> wrote: > > Some thoughts: > > More seriously, the Wikipedia article on forking is probably worth a read: > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fork_(software_development) > > I would claim that github is the odd man out here, having appropriated a > term that historically meant something undesirable and changing it into an > intended desirable part of the software development process. >
Certainly, Github's use of "fork" is different that saying "Devuan" is a fork of "Debian". As to whether a fork is undesirable depends on point of view. I am willfully ignorant regarding the Debian people's opinions of Devuan. I will, however, admit that I think the Inkscape fork of Sodapodi benefited me, > Accidental head or accidental branch don't seem to apply if for no other > reason a fork *can* be deliberate. That's not the norm but --allow-fork > does exist as an option for those cases when fossil can detect a fork will > happen but to allow it anyway. I suspect most people don't type > --allow-fork accidentally (when they type it at all). :) > In my experience, a "fork" results when I or one of my teammates forgets to start a new branch. So, from our perspective, "accidental" is very applicable. Even with "fossil forks", such an undistinguished "branch" would be easy to loose track of. I would not want to create a "fork". > So, if we *must* have a unique term, I'd vote for twig as I've never heard > it used in a dvcs context and can't find such a reference via Google. Mind > you, if we started using twig there is nothing to stop github (or others) > from coming along and appropriating the terminology, so we could wind up > right back in this position seven years down the road. > I'm not saying _must_. I only want to point out that it could be a non-trivial obstacle to adoption for Fossil for some people.
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