trying to clarify hg terminology -- working copy vs repository

[Adrian Buehlmann]

On 10.10.2009 13:49, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> On Sat, 10 Oct 2009, Adrian Buehlmann wrote:
> 
>> On 10.10.2009 12:09, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
>>>   yup, i've collected those examples so far.  i realize all this
>>> sounds painfully pedantic but, given my long history of writing and
>>> teaching technical courses, i've learned that the most common cause of
>>> misunderstanding is an unclear grasp of the correct terminology.
>> That's why we tried to explain it in the wiki
>>
>> http://mercurial.selenic.com/wiki/Repository
>> http://mercurial.selenic.com/wiki/WorkingDirectory
> 
>   and just as a data point to demonstrate why it can be confusing to
> clarify the terminology, we have two different defns of "repository":
> 
>   http://mercurial.selenic.com/wiki/Repository
> 
> "Strictly speaking, the term repository refers to the directory named
> .hg (dot hg) in the repository root directory. The repository root
> directory is the parent directory of the .hg directory. Mercurial
> stores its internal data structures – the metadata – inside that .hg
> directory."
> 
> "All of the files and directories that coexist with the .hg directory
> in the repository root are said to live in the working directory. "
> 
>   http://mercurial.selenic.com/wiki/UnderstandingMercurial
> 
> "Mercurial repositories contain a working directory coupled with a
> store:"
> 
>   that first definition suggests that the repository is *distinct*
> from the working directory, the second suggests that the repo
> *includes* the working directory.  i know the first defn is the
> correct one, i'm just pointing out that even the online docs are
> inconsistent.

No. Read below. You left out important things.

>   i'm not trying to be outrageously anal-retentive, i am merely
> succeeding. :-)

...nearly, by selective quoting to prove a wrong point ;)

http://mercurial.selenic.com/wiki/Repository

later on writes:

"Sometimes Mercurial users and developers also use the term "repository"
when referring to the repository root. But strictly speaking, the .hg
directory is the "real" repository."

There *is* some dualism of the term "repository".