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Re: [PATCH 1/2] user-manual: add global config section

From
Michael J Gruber <git@drmicha.warpmail.net>
Date
Oct 14, 2009, 16:09 UTC
Message-ID
<4AD5F7BE.9000704@drmicha.warpmail.net>
In-Reply-To
<94a0d4530910140726i4465e919h77045904aa33c61a@mail.gmail.com>
Felipe Contreras venit, vidit, dixit 14.10.2009 16:26:
Show 37 quoted lines
> On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 10:19 AM, Michael J Gruber
> <git@drmicha.warpmail.net> wrote:
>> Felipe Contreras venit, vidit, dixit 12.10.2009 19:09:
>>> On Mon, Oct 12, 2009 at 3:25 PM, Michael J Gruber
>>> <git@drmicha.warpmail.net> wrote:
>>>> Well, you do talk about "system" below, and that's about it. Also, the
>>>> configuration is not really distributed among different locations. Most
>>>> newbies interested in a *D*VCS will misunderstand this (as git having
>>>> distributed configuration).
>>>>
>>>> Alternative:
>>>>
>>>> Git's default configuration can be changed on a system wide, global (per
>>>> user) and local (per repository) level, in the order of increasing
>>>> precedence.
>>>
>>> When I read that it's not clear if the local level discards the global
>>> level completely or it's aggregated. If we specify that it's only the
>>> variables that take precedence it might be clearer:
>>>
>>> Git's configuration is composed of variables that are stored in
>>> multiple locations: 'system' (all users), 'global' (for the user), and
>>> 'repository' -- in decreasing order of precedence.
>>
>> Yep, although established lingo is "options" (not "variables"), and it's
>> really increasing order, not decreasing.
> 
> Really? I remember clearly Junio stating otherwise:
> http://marc.info/?l=git&m=123460371724873&w=2
> 
> ----
>> +	OPT_BOOLEAN(0, "unset", &do_unset, "removes an option: name [value-regex]"),
> 
> Please don't introduce a new noun "option" that has never been used to
> mean a "configuration variable" in git documentation.  It unnecessarily
> confuses everybody.
> ----

Well, Junio certainly is authoritative, and I don't want to risk any bad patch-acceptance-fu ( :) ), but

2d2465c (Add documentation for git-config-set, 2005-11-17)

is the origin of that doc for git-config. I'm not just claiming it myself. That commit introduced "option", uses it in all but one place, and this never changed since then! [The ratio went up from 6:1 to 40:5] I have no objection to changing this established notion, but established it is. I haven't tracked down the use of option vs. variable in other places than git-config.txt and its predecessors.

Michael
Previous: Felipe ContrerasNext: Junio C Hamano
Message 10 of 13 in “user-manual: reorganize the configuration steps”
  1. 0/2 user-manual: reorganize the configuration stepsFelipe Contreras, Oct 11, 2009
  2. 1/2 user-manual: add global config sectionFelipe Contreras, Oct 11, 2009
  3. 2/2 user-manual: simplify the user configurationFelipe Contreras, Oct 11, 2009
  4. Jonathan NiederOct 11, 2009
  5. Junio C HamanoOct 12, 2009
  6. Michael J GruberOct 12, 2009
  7. Felipe ContrerasOct 12, 2009
  8. Michael J GruberOct 13, 2009
  9. Felipe ContrerasOct 14, 2009
  10. Michael J GruberOct 14, 2009
  11. Junio C HamanoOct 14, 2009
  12. J. Bruce FieldsOct 14, 2009
  13. Felipe ContrerasOct 14, 2009

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