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Re: [PATCH 2/3] help: Add '--follow-alias' option

From
Namhyung Kim <namhyung.kim@lge.com>
Date
Mar 15, 2012, 06:46 UTC
Message-ID
<4F619046.1050308@lge.com>
In-Reply-To
<7vvcm6l6w0.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org>
2012-03-15 3:23 PM, Junio C Hamano wrote:
Show 34 quoted lines
> 김남형 <namhyung.kim@lge.com> writes:
>> 2012-03-15 3:00 PM, Junio C Hamano wrote:
>>> Namhyung Kim <namhyung.kim@lge.com> writes:
>>>
>>>> The --follow-alias option will look up the alias definitions and
>>>> use the first word as a command. For example, if I set my aliases
>>>> as follows:
>>>>
>>>>    $ git help br
>>>>    `git br' is aliased to `git branch'
>>>>    $ git help ru
>>>>    `git ru' is aliased to `git remote update'
>>>>
>>>> adding --follow-alias (or -f) option will show man pages of
>>>> git-branch and git-remote, respectively.
>>>
>>> What would happen when somebody has this?
>>>
>>> 	[alias]
>>>           	br = branch --list
>>>
>>> 	$ git help --follow-alias br
>>> 	... man page for git-branch is shown ...
>>>
>>> NAK.
>>
>> I'm sorry I don't understand what you meant by this. What should be
>> happened for this?
>
> You _somehow_ restict the output, or at least draw the user's attention,
> to the description of --list mode in the resulting "git-branch" manual.
>
> I do not think that is feasible.
>

Actually I was thinking about moving to an appropriate point in the document by checking second argument (if any) and searching it (using regexp?). But I coundn't be sure it'd be possible too.

Show 7 quoted lines
> But showing the whole manual page, without telling the user that "br" is
> not aliased to a plain vanilla "branch" without any option, is not a
> solution, especially if you are going to let the user set a configuration
> variable to allow him to forget about this setting. Progressive revelation
> would not have such a downside and I think it is more appropriate approach
> for something like "help".
>

OK. That makes sense to me too. This was just a quick thought hoping that can be helpful for someone who uses alias as a simple abbreviation.

Thanks for taking your time and giving me detailed comments. Namhyung

Previous: Junio C HamanoNext: Junio C Hamano
Message 6 of 16 in “help: Fix help message for aliases”
  1. 1/3 help: Fix help message for aliasesNamhyung Kim, Mar 15, 2012
  2. 2/3 help: Add '--follow-alias' optionNamhyung Kim, Mar 15, 2012
  3. Junio C HamanoMar 15, 2012
  4. 김남형Mar 15, 2012
  5. Junio C HamanoMar 15, 2012
  6. Namhyung KimMar 15, 2012
  7. Junio C HamanoMar 15, 2012
  8. 3/3 help: Add 'help.follow-alias' config itemNamhyung Kim, Mar 15, 2012
  9. Junio C HamanoMar 15, 2012
  10. Namhyung KimMar 15, 2012
  11. Jeff KingMar 15, 2012
  12. 김남형Mar 15, 2012
  13. Jeff KingMar 15, 2012
  14. Junio C HamanoMar 15, 2012
  15. 김남형Mar 15, 2012
  16. Junio C HamanoMar 15, 2012

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