Personally, = I think we should say =E2=80=9Crevert=E2=80=9D and avoid use of = roll-phrases entirely. =E2=80=9Cunrevert=E2=80=9D isn=E2=80=99t quite as = natural as =E2=80=9Croll back in=E2=80=9D, but it=E2=80=99s good enough. = Or you could say =E2=80=9Cre-land=E2=80=9D.

Regards,

Maciej

On Mar = 6, 2020, at 6:14 PM, Kirsling, Ross <Ross.Kirsling@sony.com> wrote:

Greetings WebKittens,

Late on Friday = seems like a good time for a terminological debate (=F0=9F=98=82), so I=E2=80=99d like to propose we revisit one of the = strangest items of WebKit-specific terminology: the phrase =E2=80=98roll = out=E2=80=99.

In our industry, = the typical meaning of the phrase =E2=80=98roll out=E2=80=99 is, of = course, =E2=80=98deploy=E2=80=99 or =E2=80=98launch=E2=80=99; this = corresponds with the colloquial usage of =E2=80=98roll out=E2=80=99 to = mean =E2=80=98depart (for a destination)=E2=80=99. In WebKit, we use = =E2=80=98roll out=E2=80=99 to mean the exact opposite, =E2=80=98revert=E2=80= =99 or =E2=80=98roll back=E2=80=99.

In terms of = metaphors: The typical meaning of =E2=80=98roll out=E2=80=99 is = synonymous with =E2=80=98roll forward=E2=80=99, hence the opposite being = =E2=80=98roll back=E2=80=99. The way that I came to explain to myself = and others what WebKit means by =E2=80=98roll out=E2=80=99 is that = it=E2=80=99s movement along the other axis. There is a tree (SVN trunk) = which is built up from disc-shaped slices (revisions), and these slices = are rolled sideways in and out of the tree. Needless to say, this is not = obvious to a newcomer, and it=E2=80=99s not even accurate to how SVN = works=E2=80=94rollouts don=E2=80=99t remove an old revision, they add a = new revision to perform the revert!

This term is = confusing enough for native English speakers outside our community, let = alone non-natives (since phrasal verbs are notoriously tricky as it is). = Having heard complaints about this from people in both of these groups = within the last few weeks, I hereby propose that we start using =E2=80=98r= oll back=E2=80=99 instead. Given the string similarity between the two, = I hope that this will be a relatively easy change to enact, if folks are = onboard with it.

Thanks for your = consideration!

Ross

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