[rtepopbe]

My current thought on this is that the git model (or at least the interface for it) is probably a touch too simple to accommodate all the things people want to use it for. As a result, you get this whole 'clean history' vs 'what really happened' split. And often you can find a few more splits if you dig in a bit deeper into the actual mechanics people prefer.

Generally, bigger picture stuff works best with cleaner histories as they mop up a bunch of unnecessary and distracting details, and neatly package things together. But doing so also means you're getting rid of, well, the details. If you need them later - and some poor bastard always will - you're just screwed.

Unfortunately all we've got are commits, so you're constantly fighting different groups and even different people who value the benefits of different approaches due to their positions, histories, or preferences.

This isn't even a half-baked idea at this point, but at first glance something like a meta-commit which just contains more commits and a message seems like it might be better. The top-level commits could just be the 'clean history' while deeper levels could record more of the as-happened details.