Re: [PATCH] doc: clarify usage of XDG_CONFIG_HOME config file

From: Todd Zullinger <tmz@pobox.com>
Date: Dec 12, 2017, 15:20 UTC
Message-ID: <20171212152009.GS3693@zaya.teonanacatl.net>
In-Reply-To: <1513077862-165-1-git-send-email-jacob.keller@gmail.com>

Hi Jacob,

Jacob Keller wrote:

Show 13 quoted lines

> The documentation for git config and how it reads the user specific
> configuration file is misleading. In some places it implies that
> $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/git/config will always be read. In others, it implies
> that only one of ~/.gitconfig and $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/git/config will be
> read.
> 
> Improve the documentation explaining how the various configuration files
> are read, and combined.
> 
> Instead of referencing each file individually, reference each type of
> location git will check. When discussing the user configuration, explain
> how we switch between one of three choices. Ensure to note that only one
> of the three choices is used.

Perhaps it would read a little easier as "Make it clear ..." rather than "Ensure to note that ..." ?

> +Note that git will only ever use one of these files as the global user
> +configuration file at once. Additionally if you sometimes use an older version
> +of git, it is best to only rely on `~/.gitconfig` as support for the others was
> +added fairly recently.

Is it really accurate to say these were added fairly recently? It looks like XDG_CONFIG_HOME was added in 21cf322791 ("config: read (but not write) from $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/git/config file", 2012-06-22) and 0e8593dc5b ("config: write to $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/git/config file when appropriate", 2012-06-22) which are in 1.7.12.

Would it be better to say something like "if you sometimes use a version of git prior to 1.7.12" here?

Or maybe we can drop "Additionally ..." altogether now? Someone using a 5 year old git version sometimes will hopefully know to check the documentation for that older version.

-- 
Todd
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