Don't display Default Repository on main Browse page

[John Hampton]

When using the multirepos branch, the "Browse" link shows both a list of the configured repositories, along with the contents of the "default" repository below.

This is ugly and a touch confusing. If I have many repositories configured, then when visiting "Browse", I expect to see a list of the repositories. Not a list of the repositories, and then one of those repos below. At best, showing the default repository clutters the page.

Now, I understand that some crazy person may find this useful. So, perhaps a config setting show_default_repos with it disabled by default is the best answer.

[Remy Blank]

The default repository display is useful for single-repository projects. Most multi-repository projects will indeed want to have it hidden, but still active to avoid breaking links created before multirepos. So a config option is certainly the best option. I'm not sure whether it should be enabled or disabled by default, though.

[Christian Boos]

The real question here is at which URL would you display the toplevel content of the default repository? /browser/(default)? That seems also ugly to me and would introduce special cases in many different places.

There's also the "legacy" aspect, by which people used to access their main repository by clicking on Browse Source would be annoyed by having to go systematically one more level down. I suspect those people would even rather see the default repository first, then the list of repositories next.

(Note: remove "If this is a problem, add a separate explicit entry for that repository.", as I can't figure anymore what I meant with this…)

[Remy Blank]

For me, there are three situations:

• Single-repository installations: in this case, you only want to see the default repository, without having to dig one additional level.

• Multi-repository installations upgraded from a 0.11 single-repository installations: in this case, to keep all previous source: links consistent, you will want to keep the default repository active, but invisible in the browser, and add an alias for it with a name. Or maybe the other way around: give a name to the default repository, and make the default an alias for that. From that point, you create source: links with the named repository.

• New multi-repository installations: here you don't even want a default repository, so you remove it altogether.

So, the only option we need is to be allowed to have a default repository, accessible at /browser/... as it is now, but invisible in the repository index page /browser.

About the order, I agree that the default repository should be shown first if it is visible.

[Christian Boos]

I'd rather label the three categories as:

single repository

Show only the default repository, not the index
Indeed, will do.

multi-repository with default repository

always have an alias for the default repository
If not defined explicitly, we could take the basename of the repository dir; this would also remove the need for a special (default) entry, but we could still display the entry for the alias of the default repository in bold.

multi-repository without default repository

only show repository index
This is already the current behavior.

I think the second case can also happen for new multi-repository environments, as there are situations where you'd want to have a default repository defined: a main repository where the code is, and a few ancillary repositories less frequently used but that need to be accessible as well (e.g. legacy repositories). In this use case, I believe it make sense to display both the default repository (first) and the repository index (next).

[Christian Boos]

follow-up…

… In this use case, I believe it make sense to display both the default repository (first) and the repository index (next).

And yes, this use case could well need to be enabled explicitly, e.g. [browser] inline_default_repository = true, defaulting to false.