Re: [boost] [GitHub] [PR] setting default branch to 'develop'

Subject: Re: [boost] [GitHub] [PR] setting default branch to 'develop'
From: Louis Dionne (ldionne.2_at_[hidden])
Date: 2015-10-28 21:07:03

Vladimir Prus <vladimir.prus <at> gmail.com> writes:

> 
> On 28-Oct-15 6:20 AM, Michel Morin wrote:
> > Beman Dawes wrote:
> >> Is it possible to write a curl script that could make the change for all
> >> libraries?
> >
> > Like this
> >
> > [...]
> >
> > ?
> > (You need to set USERNAME and PASSWORD in some way before using the command.)
> 
> I have ran the above, with some quoting fixes:
> 
> [...]
> 
> This has updated every repo that is included in master. I've updated hana 
> by hand.
> 
> Is this fine with everybody?

No, it isn't. The only way of getting Hana right now is by cloning it from 
GitHub. By making the default branch `develop`, you automatically make any 
script that uses `git clone https://github.com/boostorg/hana` clone the 
`develop` branch, and thus potentially clone something broken.

Also, the README shows the current status of the Travis CI build for the
master branch. By defaulting the branch to develop, most people will now
see information that is misleading.

In general, I don't think defaulting pull-requests to master is a sufficient
argument for changing the default branch. There is a nice CONTRIBUTING
file at the root of the project telling people to pull-request against 
develop, and I am always free to close pull-requests that do not follow 
this advice. That being said, I don't care much about what is done for other 
libraries, but I do care about Hana. Hence, please revert the default branch 
to master for Hana.

Also, shouldn't I be the one to have sufficient admin rights to change that 
kind of thing? I don't like the idea that anyone with sufficient rights within 
'boostorg' can do as they please with my repository ('my' taken lightly). 
In this case it's fine because I saw the thread and I'm sure Vladimir will
revert the change, but in general I think the author should be in control
of such things to avoid silent breakages.

Regards,
Louis