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[PATCH/RFC] rebase: make resolve message clearer for inexperienced users

From
William Duclot <william.duclot@gmail.com>
Date
Jul 9, 2017, 20:25 UTC
Message-ID
<20170709202520.21739-1-william.duclot@gmail.com>

The git UI can be improved by addressing the error messages to those they help: inexperienced and casual git users. To this intent, it is helpful to make sure the terms used in those messages can be understood by this segment of users, and that they guide them to resolve the problem.

In particular, failure to apply a patch during a git rebase is a common problem that can be very destabilizing for the inexperienced user. It is important to lead them toward the resolution of the conflict (which is a 3-steps process, thus complex) and reassure them that they can escape a situation they can't handle with "--abort". This commit answer those two points by detailling the resolution process and by avoiding cryptic git linguo.

Signed-off-by: William Duclot <william.duclot@gmail.com>
---
While I do not expect that this V1 wording will be to the liking of
everyone, I think (know?) that the heart of this patch isn't something
that I'm the only one bothered with :) I'd very much like to hear your
opinions about it
 git-rebase.sh | 7 ++++---
 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
diff --git a/git-rebase.sh b/git-rebase.sh
index 2cf73b88e..50457f687 100755
--- a/git-rebase.sh
+++ b/git-rebase.sh
@@ -55,9 +55,10 @@ LF='
 '
 ok_to_skip_pre_rebase=
 resolvemsg="
-$(gettext 'When you have resolved this problem, run "git rebase --continue".
-If you prefer to skip this patch, run "git rebase --skip" instead.
-To check out the original branch and stop rebasing, run "git rebase --abort".')
+$(gettext 'Resolve this conflict manually, mark it as resolved with "git add <conflicted_file>",
+then run "git rebase --continue".
+You can instead skip this commit: run "git rebase --skip".
+To stop the whole rebasing and get back to your pre-rebase state, run "git rebase --abort".')
 "
 unset onto
 unset restrict_revision
-- 
2.13.0
Next: Junio C Hamano
Message 1 of 8 in “rebase: make resolve message clearer for inexperienced users”
  1. rebase: make resolve message clearer for inexperienced usersWilliam Duclot, Jul 9, 2017
  2. Junio C HamanoJul 10, 2017
  3. William DuclotJul 10, 2017
  4. Junio C HamanoJul 12, 2017
  5. Philip OakleyJul 16, 2017
  6. Phillip WoodJul 24, 2017
  7. Junio C HamanoJul 24, 2017
  8. Phillip WoodJul 26, 2017

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