I agreed with you initially.
> I'm fairly sure that I could explain how to break up any long PR in a sensible way. Parent thinks couldnt be done, so do you - what is an example?
To me, when I meet experts in any field, the quality that stands out isn't that they do everything to expert level, it's that they get everything done as they said they would. Sometimes that means big PRs, because that's the environment created, and the expert finds the way to get the job done.
I'm not doubting you _could_ break up any PR into a shorter one. But that's kind of the point of an expert: they recognise what makes sense to do in reality, rather than just doing something because it's best practice and expecting everyone else to do the same.
They ultimately get the thing done how they said they would.
In my experience - this one is the correct one. Make a commitment, keep the commitment, stay responsible for the commitment afterwards.
This whole chain is like arguing on how tidy your desk should be. Some people like it fastidious to the nth degree. Some people prefer a little mess.
In neither case does that preference really matter much compared to all the other things a real job entails.
>I'm not doubting you _could_ break up any PR into a shorter one. But that's kind of the point of an expert: they recognise what makes sense to do in reality
I have seen plenty of huge PRs which were more trouble than they were worth to break up after discovery. At some point it becomes like unbaking a cake. It's a trade off.
Ive just never thought when I saw any of them that there wasnt a more practical way to get there with a bunch of smaller PRs.
Unlike dealing with an already existent large PR this isnt really a trade off thing - there are basically almost no circumstances when it is preferable to review one 1000 line code change instead of 4x self contained 200 line changes.
> they get everything done as they said they would
This. It saves everyone's time.