Re: [PATCH] user-manual: mention git gui citool (commit, amend)

From: Steffen Prohaska <prohaska@zib.de>
Date: Aug 2, 2007, 22:24 UTC
Message-ID: <107BD473-E055-47D0-9720-9D878BDAB954@zib.de>
In-Reply-To: <20070802181853.GB31885@fieldses.org>

On Aug 2, 2007, at 8:18 PM, J. Bruce Fields wrote:

> On Mon, Jul 30, 2007 at 06:11:20PM +0200, Steffen Prohaska wrote:

Show 24 quoted lines

>> +Another approach for creating commits is git gui:
>> +
>> +-------------------------------------------------
>> +$ git gui citool
>> +-------------------------------------------------
>> +
>> +starts the commit tool (Note, "`git gui`" starts the full gui, which
>> +provides more options).
>> +
>> +Beyond the basic operation of staging and unstaging complete files,
>> +git gui can also selectively stage diff hunks.  You can do so by
>> +selecting a modified or staged file and right-click on the diff view
>> +in the lower part of the gui. A pop-up will appear that lets you
>> +select a specific hunk and stage or unstage it for the next commit.
>> +This is particular useful for slicing large, ugly commits into  
>> smaller
>> +pieces, for example when cherry-picking (see
>> +<<reordering-patch-series>>).
>
> I wonder whether we could get away with just the brief list of  
> features
> ("lets you view changes in the index and the working file, lets you
> individually select diff hunks for inclusion in the index"), and leave
> the how-to stuff to online guit-gui help, if it's necessary?

Maybe, this would be sufficient. I mentioned the pop-up explicitly because it wasn't obvious to me right away. The reason might be that my brain adjusted too much to the Mac I'm using. Right-clicking and pop-ups are rarely used on Macs as the only access point to essential features, such as selectively staging diff hunks. Typically an icon or menu entry guides you explicitly to every feature. Pop-ups are only used for 'optimized' access but never as the only access point.

Show 5 quoted lines

> Also, I like the verb "stage" as a way to explain the part of the  
> index
> file in creating commits, but I've been consistently using the word
> "index" throughout the user manual, and I think that's consistent with
> the rest of the documentation--so don't avoid it here.

"staging/unstaging" is how git gui calls adding/removing files to and from the index.

	Steffen