Hash length

[sergeevabc]

Dear @mdomke,

why the hash value returned by git-semver is one char longer that git? It created a confusion among users a few times because they were comparing the last couple of chars with their eyes.

$ git describe --tags
v2.0.2-3-g1638772

$ git-simver
v2.0.3-dev.3+16387723

$ python -c "a,b = '1638772','16387723'; diff = abs(len(a) - len(b)); print(f'{max(a, b, key=len)} is longer by {diff}' if diff else f'{a} and {b} are equal')"
16387723 is longer by 1

[mdomke]

From man git-describe

The hash suffix is "-g" + an unambiguous abbreviation for the tip commit of parent (which was 2414721b194453f058079d897d13c4e377f92dc6). The length of the abbreviation scales as the repository grows, using the approximate number of objects in the repository and a bit of math around the birthday paradox, and defaults to a minimum of 7. The "g" prefix stands for "git" and is used to allow describing the version of a software depending on the SCM the software is managed with. This is useful in an environment where people may use different SCMs.

I didn't see the need for having the hash prefixed with -g nor any complicated math around the length of the hash. Instead I did choose a rather natural length of 8 characters for the hash. I'm sorry to hear that this is causing confusion.