[poky] Strange file names

[Detlev Zundel]

Hi Tom,

> It may seem strange, but filenames are just text after all, and I wanted
> to avoid having separate 'meta-files' describing that same logic that
> would also have to be kept in sync, so decided it would be less
> error-prone to keep that information in the filenames themselves.

It indeed is a possibility to encode "more than usual" into filenames,
but it certainly will have other effects also.  Now that the name of the
file itself contains "business logic" that is important for the system,
I wonder how this interacts with other parts of the (sometimes
unwritten) expectations of the development environment.  One thing which
immediately comes to my mind is the interaction with the version control
system.

Changing "an attribute" of such a file (which is coded in the inline
python code) will essentially look like the deletion and addition of a
file for version control.  Of course our version control (git) will be
clever enough to identify the file as being the same, but still we now
have an operation which was previously not used to change "business
logic", i.e. renaming files, doing just that.  So for tracing the
history of such an item I now need to trace the "rename history"
additionally to the "content history".

So in contrast to the original idea of "keeping the information in one
place", we now have two places, i.e. the content and the filename and
the latter is really a very uncommon place for that.

I do have a severe bad feeling in my stomach about going into this
(uncharted) territory and I do not know whether the potential problems
that we (yet) do not see are worth it.  So I would also like you to
reconsider that strategy.

Thanks
  Detlev

--
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,      MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich,  Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-40 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: dzu at denx.de