[PATCH] Documentation: clarify signature verification v2

From

Fox in the shell <kellerfuchs@hashbang.sh>

Date

May 12, 2016, 06:50 UTC

Message-ID

<20160512065022.GA32387@hashbang.sh>

Hi,

Uniformise the vocabulary used wrt. key/signature validity with OpenPGP:
- a signature is valid if made by a key with a valid uid;
- in the default trust-model, a uid is valid if signed by a trusted key;
- a key is trusted if the (local) user set a trust level for it.

Thanks to Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> for reviewing
  the first attempt at this patch.
---
 Documentation/merge-options.txt  | 7 +++++--
 Documentation/pretty-formats.txt | 4 ++--
 2 files changed, 7 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/merge-options.txt b/Documentation/merge-options.txt
index f08e9b8..30808a0 100644
--- a/Documentation/merge-options.txt
+++ b/Documentation/merge-options.txt
@@ -89,8 +89,11 @@ option can be used to override --squash.
 
 --verify-signatures::
 --no-verify-signatures::
-	Verify that the commits being merged have good and trusted GPG signatures
-	and abort the merge in case they do not.
+	Verify that the tip commit of the side branch being merged is
+	signed with a valid key, i.e. a key that has a valid uid: in the
+	default trust model, this means the signing key has been signed by
+	a trusted key.  If the tip commit of the side branch is not signed
+	with a valid key, the merge is aborted.
 
 --summary::
 --no-summary::
diff --git a/Documentation/pretty-formats.txt b/Documentation/pretty-formats.txt
index 671cebd..29b19b9 100644
--- a/Documentation/pretty-formats.txt
+++ b/Documentation/pretty-formats.txt
@@ -143,8 +143,8 @@ ifndef::git-rev-list[]
 - '%N': commit notes
 endif::git-rev-list[]
 - '%GG': raw verification message from GPG for a signed commit
-- '%G?': show "G" for a Good signature, "B" for a Bad signature, "U" for a good,
-  untrusted signature and "N" for no signature
+- '%G?': show "G" for a good (valid) signature, "B" for a bad signature,
+  "U" for a good signature with unknown validity and "N" for no signature
 - '%GS': show the name of the signer for a signed commit
 - '%GK': show the key used to sign a signed commit
 - '%gD': reflog selector, e.g., `refs/stash@{1}`

-- 
2.1.4