`rev` vs `version`

[sir4ur0n]

Hello!

• When initializating a project with niv init, the JSON contains the rev field to store the Git commit
• When adding a dependency with niv add, the JSON contains the rev field to store the Git commit
• When updating with niv update or niv modify, the help proposes the -v or --version option, stating:

  Equivalent to --attribute version=

Using this option doesn't touch the rev field but instead adds a version field, which seems unused by Niv?

It looks like the field was renamed from rev to version or vice-versa but not everything was migrated, is my intuition right?

If yes: I propose we use this issue to fix this inconsistency. If no: then what's the deal with these 2 options? It should be documented/further explained, as it's ambiguous. And why isn't there an option in niv update and niv modify to change the rev field, as it seems to be the default?

I'm not used to Niv (yet) so please bear with me if my understandings are wrong :grin:

[nmattia]

Interesting, I never thought this would create confusion. They are indeed unrelated; the version is used when fetching file by URL (template). I think I'll just add a --rev flag for setting the revision; I might even remove -r (which is --repo) because it's pretty rare that people update the repo.

[nmattia]

@Sir4ur0n does this help? https://github.com/nmattia/niv/pull/271

[sir4ur0n]

@nmattia yes, it does (thank you by the way!), though I think the role of attributes should be clarified, at least on the readme, what do you think? The relationship between attributes and templates is never explained explicitly...