From: Jeff King <peff@peff.net>
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 2019 05:40:52 GMT
Subject: Re: [PATCH v2 1/3] doc: provide guidance on user.name format
Message-ID: <20191017054051.GA10253@sigill.intra.peff.net>
In-Reply-To: <20191017005330.9021-2-sandals@crustytoothpaste.net>

On Thu, Oct 17, 2019 at 12:53:28AM +0000, brian m. carlson wrote:

> It's a frequent misconception that the user.name variable controls
> authentication in some way, and as a result, beginning users frequently
> attempt to change it when they're having authentication troubles.
> Document that the convention is that this variable represents some form
> of a human's personal name, although that is not required.  In addition,
> address concerns about whether Unicode is supported.
> 
> Use the term "personal name" as this is likely to draw the intended
> contrast, be applicable across cultures which may have different naming
> conventions, and be easily understandable to people who do not speak
> English as their first language.  Indicate that "some form" is
> conventionally used, as people may use a nickname or preferred name
> instead of a full legal name.
> 
> Point users who may be confused about authentication to an appropriate
> configuration option instead.

I think this is a good distinction to draw, but...

>  Documentation/git-commit-tree.txt | 6 ++++++
>  1 file changed, 6 insertions(+)

...I was surprised to see it here, where I think most users wouldn't
find it. Would it make sense in git-commit(1), or in the description of
the user.name config?

-Peff