Re: [PATCH 1/3] Contextually notify user about an initial commit

From: Kaartic Sivaraam <kaarticsivaraam91196@gmail.com>
Date: Jun 20, 2017, 13:37 UTC
Message-ID: <1497965839.2792.2.camel@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <87o9tj86hs.fsf@gmail.com>

Thanks for trying to help. A few comments regarding your suggestions.

>  * Let's do that spacing fix (unrelated fix) in its own commit.
>

Ok. That's a good point.

>   * You should add tests along with the code being changed, and
>     especially change tests that would fail with your new code,
>     otherwise you break bisection.
>

I'm not sure if the convention here is to keep tests along with change it tests. I thought it would be better to separate them as they are "separate" changes. They're separate because in case of any issues with the test it should be possible to identify them separately. This isn't possible when they are added along with the change.

Further, adding them as a separate change change (commit) immediately after the change it tests would ease the task of finding the change it tests.

If the convention here, really, is to add tests along with the change, I can't do anything but to follow it. I guess it should be mentioned somewhere in the Documentation/SubmittingPatches. AFAIK, I don't think it's mentioned there.

>  * I think the commit message here could be shorter & clearer at the
>    same time.

I don't think it's unclear. It's longer for the reason that follows. The commit message was crafted based on the following guideline found in Documentation/SubmittingPatches

Show 10 quoted lines

> The body should provide a meaningful commit message, which:
> 
>   . explains the problem the change tries to solve, i.e. what is 
>     wrong with the current code without the change.
> 
>   . justifies the way the change solves the problem, i.e. why the
>     result with the change is better.
> 
>   . alternate solutions considered but discarded, if any.
>

I don't think the new commit message follows this. Both the commit messages are found below for comparison.

Old one -------

Show 29 quoted lines

> On Tue, Jun 20 2017, Kaartic Sivaraam jotted:
> 
>  "git status" indicated "Initial commit" when HEAD points at
>  an unborn branch.  This message is shared with the commit
>  log template "git commit" prepares for the user when
>  creating a commit (i.e. "You are about to create the initial
>  commit"), and is OK as long as the reader is aware of the
>  nature of the message (i.e. it guides the user working
>  toward the next commit), but was confusing to new users,
>  especially the ones who do "git commit -m message" without
>  having a chance to pay attention to the commit log template.
>  
>  The "Initial commit" indication wasn't an issue in the commit
>  template. Taking that into consideration, a good solution would
>  be to contextually use different messages to indicate the user
>  that there were no commits in this branch.
> 
>  A few alternatives considered were,
>  
>  * Waiting for initial commit
>  * Your current branch does not have any commits
>  * Current branch waiting for initial commit
>  
>  The most succint one, "No commits yet", among the alternatives
>  was chosen.
>  
>  Helped-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
>  Signed-off-by: Kaartic Sivaraam <kaarticsivaraam91196@gmail.com>
>

New one -------

Show 16 quoted lines

>  status: contextually notify user about an initial commit
> 
>  Change the output of "status" to say "No commits yet" when "git
>  retaining the current "Initial commit" message displayed in the
>  template that's displayed in the editor when the initial commit is
>  being authored.
> 
>  The existing "Initial commit" message makes sense for the commit
>  template where we're making the initial commit, but is confusing 
>  when merely checking the status of a fresh repository without 
>  having any commits yet.
> 
>  Helped-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
>  Signed-off-by: Kaartic Sivaraam <kaarticsivaraam91196@gmail.com>
>  Signed-off-by: Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason <avarab@gmail.com>
>

>  * The commit message doesn't follow our usual format.

Could you be more specific about where it's not following the format?

-- 
Regards,
Kaartic Sivaraam <kaarticsivaraam91196@gmail.com>