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As a Bazaar developer there are a few things you need to know about
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* how to add a new option,
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* how add a new stack,
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* how add a new store.
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The first sections in this document summarize the steps needed when adding a
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new configuration item, the rest of the document gives more internal details
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on how this is implemented.
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Options values are obtained with ``stack.get(option_name)`` where ``stack``
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is one of the daughter classes of ``config.Stack``, see their docstrings for
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a description of which sections are used from which stores.
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The value returned is of the type declared for that ``Option`` and if
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nothing is specifically declared you will get the default for that option.
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You add a new ``Option`` to the ``option_registry``, either inside
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``bzrlib/config.py`` or during initialization of your plugin (use
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``register_lazy`` in this case). New plugins should have systematic
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hierarchical names so that related values are grouped together::
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option_registry.register(
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Option('dirstate.fdatasync', default=True,
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from_unicode=bool_from_store,
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help="Flush dirstate changes onto physical disk? ...."))
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You then need to decide which stack is appropriate to implement the Option
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* which config files (aka ``Store``) needs to be queried, which sections are
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relevant and in what order,
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* which section will receive the modifications (if relevant).
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The docstrings for the existing stacks cover most of the known use cases.
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Modify an option value or delete an option
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------------------------------------------
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Just reading an option is what is needed most of the time, modifying option
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values or removing options is usually something that is not automated but
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left to the user (with ``bzr config``).
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Nevertheless, if you need to save a modified option value, use
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``.set(option_name, value)`` and ``.remove(option_name)`` to delete the
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option. Both methods are provided by the ``Stack`` object.
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But before doing that, you must be sure that the stack you're using have a
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writable section (this is true for ``GlobalStack`` which uses the
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``DEFAULT`` section in ``bazaar.conf`` and for ``BranchStack``which uses the
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no-name section in ``branch.conf``).
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Old and new configuration code
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------------------------------
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There is (as of late 2011) some older and some newer configuration code. The
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old code has specific methods for various checks or uses classes like
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``GlobalConfig``. Don't add to to it; try to remove it.
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If you encounter an option using the old code you may want to migrate
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it. This generally involves:
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* registering the option,
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* replace the old config by a stack:
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* ``GlobalConfig`` became ``GlobalStack``,
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* ``LocationConfig`` became ``LocationStack``,
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* ``BranchConfig`` became ``BranchStack`` (or in this case,
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``get_config()`` became ``get_config_stack()``.
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* replace the custom accessor calls with ``conf.get(option_name)``.
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The new config code provides some help for commonly encountered use cases
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that can allow further simplifications like:
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* providing a default value when the option is not defined in any way by the
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* convert the unicode string provided by the user into a suitable
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representation (integer, list, etc).
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Stacks capture the various places an option can be declared by the user with
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associated levels of generality and query them in the appropriate order
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returning the first definition found. For example, the
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``append_revisions_only`` option may be declared for all branches of a user
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in ``bazaar.conf``, or for a hierarchy of branches in ``locations.conf`` or
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in a single branch in ``branch.conf``.
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Defining a new stack means you need a new way to expose these levels to the
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user that is not covered by the existing stacks.
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This is achieved by declaring:
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* which stores can provide a value for the option,
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* which sections apply to the stack instance, some filtering for a given
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context can be defined,
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* which (store, section) should receive the modifications.
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Mapping different sections to different stacks is a powerful way to organize
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the options and provide various levels of configuration to the user. This is
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achieved with ``Store`` and ``SectionMatcher`` objects.
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The following stores are used by ``bzr`` in ways that illustrate various
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``bzr`` itself defines two sections here:
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* ``DEFAULT`` where global options are defined,
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* ``ALIASES`` where command aliases are defined. This section is *not*
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available via ``GlobalStack``, instead, the ``bzr alias`` command uses it
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for its own purposes.
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Plugins can define either additional options in the ``DEFAULT`` section or
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new sections for their own needs (this is not especially encouraged
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though). The ``bzr-bookmarks`` plugin defines a ``BOOKMARKS`` section there
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The Ubuntu package importer defines a store and two stacks involving
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``pkgimport.conf``. A no-name section contains the options common to all
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packages and sections named after their corresponding package can also be
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The ``ImporterStack`` uses ``locations.conf`` and the no-name section in
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``pkgimport.conf`` for the importer options.
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The ``PackageStack`` uses only ``pkgimport.conf`` and uses the section name
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after the package followed by the no-name section.
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``bzr`` defines sections corresponding to URLs there and includes the
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relevant sections in ``LocationStack`` and ``BranchStack``. No no-name
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section is recognized in this file.
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This file defines the option for a given branch and uses only the no-name
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The Option object is used to define its properties:
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* name: a name: a valid python identifier (even if it's not used as an
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identifier in python itself). This is also used to register the option.
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* from_unicode: a callable accepting a unicode string and returning a
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suitable value for the option. If the string cannot be coerced it should
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* default: the default value that Stack.get() should return if no value can
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be found for the option. This can also be a callable as long as it returns
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* default_from_env: a list of environment variables. The first variable set
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will provide a default value overriding 'default' which remains the
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default value if *no* environment variable is set.
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* help: a doc string describing the option, the first line should be a
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summary and can be followed by a blank line and a more detailed
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explanation. This will be displayed to the user with::
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bzr help <option name>
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* invalid: the action to be taken when an invalid value is encountered in a
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store (during a Stack.get()).
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The value of an option is a unicode string or ``None`` if it's not
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defined. By using ``from_unicode`` you can turn this string into a more
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appropriate representation (a list of unicode strings for example).
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Options are grouped into sections which share some properties with the well
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* the key is the name,
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* you can get, set and remove an option,
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* the value is a unicode string.
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MutableSection is needed to set or remove an option, ReadOnlySection should
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Options can be persistent in which case they are saved into Stores.
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``config.Store`` defines the abstract interface that all stores should
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This object doesn't provide direct access to the options, it only provides
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access to Sections. This is deliberate to ensure that sections can be
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properly shared by reusing the same underlying objects. Accessing options
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should be done via the ``Section`` objects.
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A ``Store`` can contain one or more sections, each section is uniquely
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identified by a unicode string.
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``config.IniFileStore`` is an implementation that use ``ConfigObj``.
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Depending on the object it is associated with (or not) a ``Store`` also needs
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to implement a locking mechanism. ``LockableIniFileStore`` implements such a
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mechanism for ``IniFileStore`` based stores.
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Classes are provided for the usual Bazaar configuration files and could be
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used as examples to define new ones if needed. The associated tests provides a
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basis for new classes which only need to register themselves in the right
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places to inherit from the existing basic tests and add their own specific
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For some contexts, only some sections from a given store will apply. The
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``SectionMatcher`` objects are used to define which sections in a store
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apply to a given context.
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The main constraint here is that a ``SectionMatcher`` should delay the loading
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of the associated store as long as possible. The constructor should collect
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all data needed for the selection and uses it while processing the sections in
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Only ``ReadOnlySection`` objects are manipulated here but a
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``SectionMatcher`` can return dedicated ``Section`` objects to provide
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additional context (the ``LocationSection`` add an ``extra_path`` attribute
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to implement the section local options for example). If no sections match,
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an empty list is returned.
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Options local to a section can be defined for special purposes and be
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handled by ``Section.get()``. One such option is ``relpath`` which is
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defined in ``LocationSection`` as an alternative to the ``appendpath``
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For ``appendpath``, the ``LocationSection`` will carry ``extra_path`` as the
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relative path between the section name and the location used. ``relpath``
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will be available as a ``Section`` local option with the same
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value. ``basename`` will carry the location base name and be available as a
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local option with the same name. Note that such options can only be expanded
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inside the section that defines them.
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Specific section matchers can be implemented by overriding ``get_sections``
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* ``LocationMatcher(store, location)``: To select all sections that match
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* ``NameMatcher(store, unique_id)``: To select a single section matching
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An option can take different values depending on the context it is
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used. This can involve configuration files, options from the command line,
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default values in bzrlib and then some.
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Such a context is implemented by creating a list of ``Section`` stacked upon
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each other. A ``Stack`` can then be asked for an option value and returns the
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first definition found.
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This provides a great flexibility to decide priorities between sections when
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the stack is defined without to worry about them in the code itself.
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A stack also defines a mutable section (which can be None) to handle
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Many sections (or even stores) are aimed at providing default values for an
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option but these sections shouldn't be modified lightly as modifying an option
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used for different contexts will indeed be seen by all these contexts.
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Default values in configuration files are defined by users. Developers
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shouldn't have to modify them, as such, no mechanism nor heuristics are used
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to find which section (or sections) should be modified.
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A ``Stack`` defines a mutable section when there is no ambiguity. If there
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is one, then the *user* should be able to decide and in this case a new
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``Stack`` can be created cheaply.
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Different stacks can be created for different purposes, the existing
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``GlobalStack``, ``LocationStack`` and ``BranchStack`` can be used as basis
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or examples. These classes are the only ones that should be used in code,
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``Stores`` can be used to build them but shouldn't be used otherwise, ditto
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for sections. Again, the associated tests could and should be used against the
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Also note that ``MemoryStack`` can be used without any disk resources which
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allows for simpler and faster tests. A common pattern is to accept a
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``config`` parameter related to a given feature and test it with predefined
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configurations without involving the whole
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stack. ``bzrlib.tests.test_commit``, ``bzrlib.tests.test_gpg`` and
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``bzrlib.tests.test_smtp_connection`` are good examples.
added
removed
doc/developers/configuration.txt
