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[PATCH v2] Document ls-files -t as semi-obsolete.

From
Matthieu Moy <matthieu.moy@imag.fr>
Date
Jul 26, 2010, 16:39 UTC
Message-ID
<1280162391-18701-1-git-send-email-Matthieu.Moy@imag.fr>

The behavior of "git ls-files -t" is very misleading (see http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/126516 and http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/144394/focus=144397 for examples of mislead users) and badly documented, hence we point the users to superior alternatives.

The feature is marked as "semi-obsolete" but not "scheduled for removal" since it's a plumbing command, scripts might use it, and Git testsuite already uses it to test the state of the index.

Signed-off-by: Matthieu Moy <Matthieu.Moy@imag.fr>
---
Resurecting a very old patch:
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/144874
The earlier concerns were:
1) There are valid uses for "git ls-files -t" and
2) If documentation is bad, then it should be improved.

This version should adress 1) by mitigating the wording (deprecated -> semi-deprecated, "almost always"). To answer 2), I don't think spending energy documenting a feature that almost nobody uses is worth it. At least, I'm not going to do it, and since nothing happened for months, I guess no one else will.

 Documentation/git-ls-files.txt |    6 ++++++
 1 files changed, 6 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/git-ls-files.txt b/Documentation/git-ls-files.txt
index 3521637..2cc3243 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-ls-files.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-ls-files.txt
@@ -106,6 +106,12 @@ OPTIONS
 	with `-s` or `-u` options does not make any sense.
 
 -t::
+	This feature is semi-deprecated. For scripting purpose,
+	linkgit:git-status[1] `--porcelain` is almost always a
+	superior alternative, and users should look at
+	linkgit:git-status[1] `--short` or linkgit:git-diff[1]
+	`--name-status` for more user-friendly alternatives.
+
 	Identify the file status with the following tags (followed by
 	a space) at the start of each line:
 	H::	cached
-- 
1.7.2.19.g9a302.dirty
Next: Junio C Hamano
Message 1 of 10 in “Document ls-files -t as semi-obsolete.”
  1. Document ls-files -t as semi-obsolete.Matthieu Moy, Jul 26, 2010
  2. Junio C HamanoJul 27, 2010
  3. Michele BallabioJul 27, 2010
  4. Matthieu MoyJul 27, 2010
  5. Document ls-files -t as semi-obsolete.Matthieu Moy, Jul 27, 2010
  6. Jeff KingJul 28, 2010
  7. Document ls-files -t as semi-obsolete.Matthieu Moy, Jul 28, 2010
  8. Jeff KingJul 27, 2010
  9. Matthieu MoyJul 27, 2010
  10. Jeff KingJul 27, 2010

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