Re: [PATCH 1/4] usability: don't ask questions if no reply is required

> Hi,
> 
> Jean-Noel Avila wrote:
> > As described in the bug report at
> > 
> > https://github.com/git/git-scm.com/issues/999
> 
> External issue tracker URLs have been known to change or disappear and
> we try to make commit messages self-contained instead of relying on
> them.  It is common to put a 'Requested-by:' footer or sentence saying
> 'Requested at <url> by <person>' near the bottom of a commit message
> for attribution and context.  Relying on the bug report more heavily
> like this example (instead of including any relevant information)
> makes it harder for a reader to understand the patch easily in
> one place.
> 
> In other words, instead of asking the reader to read the bug report,
> please include pertinent information the reader needs to
> understand the patch here so they don't have to.

> 
> > the user was disconcerted by the question asked by the program not
> > requiring a reply from the user. To improve the general usability of
> > the Git suite, The following rule was applied:
> > 
> > if the sentence
> > 
> >  * appears in a non-interactive session
> >  * is printed last before exit
> >  * is a question addressing the user ("you")
> > 
> > the sentence is turned into affirmative and proposes the option.
> > 
> > Signed-off-by: Jean-Noel Avila <jn.avila@free.fr>
> > ---
> > 
> >  help.c | 4 ++--
> >  1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
> > 
> > diff --git a/help.c b/help.c
> > index bc6cd19cf..4658a55c6 100644
> > --- a/help.c
> > +++ b/help.c
> > @@ -411,8 +411,8 @@ const char *help_unknown_cmd(const char *cmd)
> > 
> >  	if (SIMILAR_ENOUGH(best_similarity)) {
> >  	
> >  		fprintf_ln(stderr,
> > 
> > -			   Q_("\nDid you mean this?",
> > -			      "\nDid you mean one of these?",
> > +			   Q_("\nThe most approaching command is",
> > +			      "\nThe most approaching commands are",
> > 
> >  			   n));
> 
> For what it's worth, I find the new text harder to understand than the
> old text.
> 
> From the bug report:
> 
> 	Now git says git: 'stahs' is not a git command. See 'git --help'.
> 	Did you mean this?
> 
> 	stash
> 
> 	Git asked if i meant git stash. and i entered yes. and git
> 	printed the character y infinite times.
> 
> If I'm reading that correctly, the problem is not that questions are
> alarming but that Git did not cope well with the answer.  When I try
> to reproduce it, I get

> 
> 	$ git stahs
> 	WARNING: You called a Git command named 'stahs', which does not exist.
> 	Continuing under the assumption that you meant 'stash'
> 	in 5.0 seconds automatically...
> 
> which is much clearer.  After commenting out "[help] autocorrect = 50" in my
> ~/.config/git/config, I get
> 
> 	$ git stahs
> 	git: 'stahs' is not a git command. See 'git --help'.
> 
> 	Did you mean this?
> 		stash
> 
> which does seem improvable, at least for consistency with the
> autocorrect case.  For example, would something like
> 
> 	$ git stahs
> 	fatal: You called a Git command named 'stahs', which does not exist.
> 	hint: Did you mean 'git stash'?
> 
> work better?  And the autocorrect case could say something like

>
> 	$ git stahs
> 	warning: You called a Git command named 'stahs', which does not exist.
> 	warning: Continuing under the assumption that you meant 'stash'
> 	warning: in 5.0 seconds automatically...
> 
> Is contact information for the bug reporter available so we can try out
> different wordings and see what works for them?