Re: vc-mode-line

[Miles Bader <miles@gnu.org>]

Of course, being in the mode-line adds other constraints -- that
character it also serves as a separator, should not be too obtrusive in
"common" states (both unmodified and modified are common I think),
should not cause confusion with other parts of the modeline, etc.

In particular, I think "*" might not be such a good choice, because
using "*" for the VCS indicator would dilute the impact of the standard
"buffer modified" indicator.  Right now, the buffer-modified indicator
stands out, as "*" is a fairly noticeable character; the more "*"s with
_different_ meanings we add to the modeline, the less noticeable it
becomes (and noticing whether the buffer is modified or not is important
I think).

I agree that "+" for "newly added file" seems better than @.

If changing everything is OK, how about:

   ":"          unmodified but already in repo
   "="          modified (emacs commonly associates "=" with "diff")
   "+"          added, but not yet committed
   "-"          deleted, but not yet committed

If that's too radical a change, how about (avoids redefining old chars):

   "-"          [existing] unmodified but already in repo
   "="          modified (emacs commonly associates "=" with "diff")
   "+"          added, but not yet committed
   "#"          deleted, but not yet committed

-Miles

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