Yes. This really is what it boils down to.
The _only_ time you actually use revision numbers (as opposed to
branch-names or tag-names) is when you want a _stable_ number.
It's that simple. You never really need a revision number otherwise. In
other situations, you do things like
git log --since=2.days.ago
gitk v2.6.18..
git diff --stat --summary ORIG_HEAD..
or whatever. It's clearly not "stable", but it's also clearly not a
revision number from a UI perspective.
When you want a revision number is _exactly_ when you're moving things
between branches, or reporting a bug to somebody else, or similar. And
that's also _exactly_ when you want the number to be stable and meaningful
(ie the other end should be able to rely on the number).
And if you need refer to a central repository to do that, it's clearly not
distributed. Not needing such a central reference point is what the word
"distributed" _means_ in computer science for chrissake!
Linus
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