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[python-committers] Deny nonbreaking spaces in the precommit script?

Łukasz Langa lukasz at langa.pl
Mon Nov 8 11:55:39 CET 2010 
Am 07.11.2010 19:28, schrieb Benjamin Peterson:
> 2010/11/7 Victor Stinner<victor.stinner at haypocalc.com>:
>> I would like to know if it would be
>> possible to block a commit introducing nonbreaking spaces? A least for me :-)
> I don't think add pre-commit hooks for every conceivable mistake is
> the right way to go.

I see you're basically saying "We're all adults here" and that we should 
be able to control our own environment so these kinds of commits don't 
happen (like Guido said). Well guess what, I believe that isn't going to 
work. Let me tell you why.

1. Most* contributors work on Python in their spare time. That means 
they also have jobs, families, all kinds of everyday trouble. Even if 
99% of the time their performance is stellar, there will be times when 
some stupid errors get through.

2. We invite more contributors now which means there are going to be 
more rookies than ever before. I for one am an example of that. You 
either expect newbies to perform like their own mentors from day one or 
expect mentors to waste time working out dumb rookie mistakes made 
because of a misconfigured environment, etc.

3. Speaking of environments, they change. Software evolves, people 
switch machines, operating systems, editors, toolchains. If one Debian 
veteran switches to Mac OS X and makes some error because of false 
assumptions, misconfigured software, whatever... his experience should 
prevent other people from making the same mistake in the future.

I could go on and risk boring you to death. The point is, if we can 
automate stuff out of the workflow, we should definitely do it. Each and 
every time. We don't gain anything by not implementing automation.

Even if that commit hook prevents a single wrong commit a year, it's 
worth it. As unpaid volunteers, we don't have time for hunting the same 
mistakes twice.

One last disclaimer. I'm not a native speaker so if the tone of my post 
sounds offensive or rude, I apologise in advance because that was not my 
intention. OTOH, the zen says explicit is better than diplomatic. Or 
something like that.


* Yup, that's guessing. Correct me if I'm wrong.

-- 
Best regards,
Łukasz Langa
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