Mangled and unclear attributions in the Emacs history

Mangled and unclear attributions in the Emacs history

[Eric S. Raymond]

Not much remains to be done to be ready for repository conversion day.
The only major unfinished task is the graft of the Aquamacs history.
Nobody else has come forward with a satellite branch that needs merging.

In order to make the Ohloh statistics more accurate I am trying to fix 
problems with commit attributions. In most cases this consists only
of transcoding Latin-1-encoded names to UTF-8.  In a few cases people
have committed under multiple alternate forms of their names; in these
cases I have canonicalized to what appears to their full legal name
with normal capitalization.

A handful of names could stand to be replaced with better
identification if anyone knows how.  It is of course
possible that some of these are intended to be opaque.

jhd = jhd <jhd@f12.localdomain>
LynX = LynX <_LynX@bk.ru>
MON KEY = MON KEY <monkey@sandpframing.com>
Nix = Nix <nix@esperi.org.uk>
U. Ser = U. Ser <user@example.com>
Yair F = Yair F <yair.f.lists@gmail.com>
cg = cg <chengang31@gmail.com>
oblique = oblique <psyberbits@gmail.com>

This one raises a philosophical issue:

Michael I. Bushnell = Michael I. Bushnell <mib@gnu.org>

Should it be changed to Thomas Bushnell, BSG <thomas@gnu.org>?

More generally, what do we consider most useful in the event of
a personal name change: name at time of contribution or most
recent name? I have no particular opinion about this.
-- 
		<a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/">Eric S. Raymond</a>

When your hammer is C++, everything begins to look like a thumb.
                -- Steve Hoflich on compl.lang.c++

Re: Mangled and unclear attributions in the Emacs history

[Paul Eggert]

Eric S. Raymond wrote:
> what do we consider most useful in the event of
> a personal name change: name at time of contribution or most
> recent name?

Name at time of contribution, though it's not a big deal.

Re: Mangled and unclear attributions in the Emacs history

[David Kastrup]

Paul Eggert <eggert@cs.ucla.edu> writes:

> Eric S. Raymond wrote:
>> what do we consider most useful in the event of
>> a personal name change: name at time of contribution or most
>> recent name?
>
> Name at time of contribution, though it's not a big deal.

.mailmap can be used for mapping historical mail addresses to a current
identity.

-- 
David Kastrup

Re: Mangled and unclear attributions in the Emacs history

[Eric Hanchrow]

What Paul said.  Eric's own rule of thumb was that the result of the
conversion should look as if git had been in use the entire time; that
would imply that the "name at the time of contribution" would have
been recorded.

On Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 7:46 AM, Paul Eggert <eggert@cs.ucla.edu> wrote:
> Eric S. Raymond wrote:
>>
>> what do we consider most useful in the event of
>> a personal name change: name at time of contribution or most
>> recent name?
>
>
> Name at time of contribution, though it's not a big deal.
>

Re: Mangled and unclear attributions in the Emacs history

[Eric S. Raymond]

Eric Hanchrow <eric.hanchrow@gmail.com>:
> What Paul said.  Eric's own rule of thumb was that the result of the
> conversion should look as if git had been in use the entire time; that
> would imply that the "name at the time of contribution" would have
> been recorded.

That is a good argument.  But there is another kind of ID change that
I don't think has the same kind of weight as the intentional change
from "Michael" to "Thomas" Bushnell.  Consider the differences between

1.  Attribution to "Jan D. <jan.h.d@swipnet.se>" vs. 
"Jan Djärv <jan.h.d@swipnet.se>"

2. Attribution to "Richard Stallman" vs. "Richard M. Stallman".  

I don't think fixing these is problematic, because doing so does not
change the name the person was using at time of contribution; rather,
it restores parts of that name that were casually elided.

The reason I care about coalescing such cases is because I think it helps
everybody if (for example) "Jan Djärv" is a reliable single identity for
purposes of reputation measures, whether informal or formalized via
something like Ohloh Kudos rank.

"Thomas Bushnell" actually wants to have a different reputation, a
different social identity, from "Michael Bushnell".  That's the point
of taking a religious name.  "Jan D.", on the other hand, is not 
intended to be a different reputational identity than "Jan Djärv" (or
at least I assume it isn't Jan can correct that if he wishes).
-- 
		<a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/">Eric S. Raymond</a>

Re: Mangled and unclear attributions in the Emacs history

[Andreas Schwab]

"Eric S. Raymond" <esr@thyrsus.com> writes:

> The reason I care about coalescing such cases is because I think it helps
> everybody if (for example) "Jan Djärv" is a reliable single identity for
> purposes of reputation measures, whether informal or formalized via
> something like Ohloh Kudos rank.

People who care can create aliases, so I don't think this is really
needed.

Andreas.

-- 
Andreas Schwab, schwab@linux-m68k.org
GPG Key fingerprint = 58CA 54C7 6D53 942B 1756  01D3 44D5 214B 8276 4ED5
"And now for something completely different."

Re: Mangled and unclear attributions in the Emacs history

[David Kastrup]

"Eric S. Raymond" <esr@thyrsus.com> writes:

> 1.  Attribution to "Jan D. <jan.h.d@swipnet.se>" vs. 
> "Jan Djärv <jan.h.d@swipnet.se>"
>
> 2. Attribution to "Richard Stallman" vs. "Richard M. Stallman".  

[...]

> The reason I care about coalescing such cases is because I think it
> helps everybody if (for example) "Jan Djärv" is a reliable single
> identity for purposes of reputation measures, whether informal or
> formalized via something like Ohloh Kudos rank.

Git uses .mailmap in the top directory to establish reliable single
identities for purposes of reputation measures like "git shortlog".

Since name and mail address changes will continue to occur during
ongoing development, it is utterly pointless to "fix" that in the
history.

-- 
David Kastrup

Re: Mangled and unclear attributions in the Emacs history

[Eric S. Raymond]

Andreas Schwab <schwab@linux-m68k.org>:
> > The reason I care about coalescing such cases is because I think it helps
> > everybody if (for example) "Jan Djärv" is a reliable single identity for
> > purposes of reputation measures, whether informal or formalized via
> > something like Ohloh Kudos rank.
> 
> People who care can create aliases, so I don't think this is really
> needed.

The devil is in the details. One detail that is interesting in 2014 is
"Can the Ohloh crawler see your alias table?".

This stands in for a larger question about how, if you suppose that a
trust/reputation identity consists of multiple aliases, that equivalence
is represented. 

With a little work - specifically, these commands:

=C filter --replace /develoeprs/developers/g
=C filter --replace /=Constantin/Constantin/g
=C filter --replace /Johan Bockgard/Johan Bockgård/g
=C filter --replace /Adam Sjogren/Adam Sjøgren/g
=C filter --replace /Jérémy Compostella/Jérémy Compostella/g
=C filter --replace /Jeremy Compostella/Jérémy Compostella/g
=C filter --replace /Richard Stallman/Richard M. Stallman/g
=C filter --replace /OReilly/O'Reilly/g
=C filter --regexp /Jan D\.$/Jan Djärv/g
=C filter --replace /K. Handa/Kenichi Handa/g
=C filter --regexp /Agustin [Mm]artin/Agustín Martín/g
=C filter --replace /Eric Ludlam/Eric M. Ludlam/g
=C filter --regexp /^rms <>/Richard M. Stallman <rms@gnu.org>/
=C filter --regexp /^ <dancol/Daniel Colascione <dancol/
=C filter --replace /=?UTF-8?q?Fabi=C3=A1n=20Ezequiel=20Gallina?= = =?UTF-8?q?Fabi=C filter --replace /3=A1n=20Ezequiel=20Gallina?= <fgallina@cuca>/Fabían Ezequel Gallina <galli.87@gmail.com>/
=C filter --replace /Anders Lindgern/Anders Lindgren/
=C filter --replace /Joakim <joakim@localhost.localdomain>/Joakim Verona <joakim@verona.se>/
=C filter --replace /joakim <joakim@exodia>/Joakim Verona <joakim@verona.se>/
=C filter --replace /joakim verona <joakim@verona.se>/Joakim Verona <joakim@verona.se>/
=C filter --replace /Karel Klic/Karel Klíc/
=C filter --replace /Leo <sdl.web@gmail.com>/Leo Liu <sdl.web@gmail.com>/
=C filter --replace /leo <sdl.web@gmail.com>/Leo Liu <sdl.web@gmail.com>/
=C filter --replace /Luis Felipe López Acevedo/Luis Felipe López Acevedo/g
=C filter --replace /Manuel Gómez <mgrojo@gmail.com>/Manuel Gómez <mgrojo@gmail.com>/
=C filter --replace /Werner Lemberg <wl@gnu.org>/Werner LEMBERG <wl@gnu.org>/
=C filter --replace /martin rudalics/Martin Rudalics/g
=C filter --replace /Óscar Fuentes/Óscar Fuentes/g
=C filter --replace /Stepán Nemec/Štěpán Němec/g
=C filter --replace /Andrei Chi u/Andrei Chitu/g
=C filter --replace /jhd <jhd@f12.localdomain>/Jan Djärv <jan.h.d@swipnet.se>/g
=C filter --replace /Yair F <yair.f.lists@gmail.com>/Yair Friedman <yair.f.lists@gmail.com>/

...we get to postpone having to deal with that question.
-- 
		<a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/">Eric S. Raymond</a>

Re: Mangled and unclear attributions in the Emacs history

[Juanma Barranquero]

On Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 9:34 PM, Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com> wrote:

> =C filter --replace /=?UTF-8?q?Fabi=C3=A1n=20Ezequiel=20Gallina?= = =?UTF-8?q?Fabi=C filter --replace /3=A1n=20Ezequiel=20Gallina?= <fgallina@cuca>/Fabían Ezequel Gallina <galli.87@gmail.com>/

This command is incorrect. The name is Fabián, not Fabían.

Re: Mangled and unclear attributions in the Emacs history

[Eric S. Raymond]

Juanma Barranquero <lekktu@gmail.com>:
> On Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 9:34 PM, Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com> wrote:
> 
> > =C filter --replace /=?UTF-8?q?Fabi=C3=A1n=20Ezequiel=20Gallina?= = =?UTF-8?q?Fabi=C filter --replace /3=A1n=20Ezequiel=20Gallina?= <fgallina@cuca>/Fabían Ezequel Gallina <galli.87@gmail.com>/
> 
> This command is incorrect. The name is Fabián, not Fabían.

Thanks for the correction.
-- 
		<a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/">Eric S. Raymond</a>

Re: Mangled and unclear attributions in the Emacs history

[Juanma Barranquero]

On Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 10:40 PM, Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com> wrote:

> <fgallina@cuca>/Fabían Ezequel Gallina <galli.87@gmail.com>/

Oops, sorry, I overlooked a second typo: it's Ezequiel, not Ezequel.

    J

Re: Mangled and unclear attributions in the Emacs history

[Eric S. Raymond]

Juanma Barranquero <lekktu@gmail.com>:
> On Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 10:40 PM, Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com> wrote:
> 
> > <fgallina@cuca>/Fabían Ezequel Gallina <galli.87@gmail.com>/
> 
> Oops, sorry, I overlooked a second typo: it's Ezequiel, not Ezequel.

Fixed.
-- 
		<a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/">Eric S. Raymond</a>

Re: Mangled and unclear attributions in the Emacs history

[Andreas Schwab]

"Eric S. Raymond" <esr@thyrsus.com> writes:

> The devil is in the details. One detail that is interesting in 2014 is
> "Can the Ohloh crawler see your alias table?".

I don't understand this question.  Why would Ohloh ignore its own list
of aliases?

Andreas.

-- 
Andreas Schwab, schwab@linux-m68k.org
GPG Key fingerprint = 58CA 54C7 6D53 942B 1756  01D3 44D5 214B 8276 4ED5
"And now for something completely different."

Re: Mangled and unclear attributions in the Emacs history

[Eric S. Raymond]

Andreas Schwab <schwab@linux-m68k.org>:
> "Eric S. Raymond" <esr@thyrsus.com> writes:
> 
> > The devil is in the details. One detail that is interesting in 2014 is
> > "Can the Ohloh crawler see your alias table?".
> 
> I don't understand this question.  Why would Ohloh ignore its own list
> of aliases?

Oh, I see.  I thought you meant the local one implied by .mailcap.
-- 
		<a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/">Eric S. Raymond</a>

Mangled and unclear attributions in the Emacs history

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

Eric S. Raymond writes:

 > MON KEY = MON KEY <monkey@sandpframing.com>

Asian, IIRC, and if so, no problem.

 > Nix = Nix <nix@esperi.org.uk>

Change that one and I won't know who you're talking about.  Nix is
Nix.

 > More generally, what do we consider most useful in the event of
 > a personal name change: name at time of contribution or most
 > recent name? I have no particular opinion about this.

I think leaving a little fuzz in the statistics is the most important
consideration.  We are human beings, not numbers.