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Re: [PATCH] Add subcommand "help" to the list of most commonly used subcommands

From
Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date
Jun 5, 2008, 18:13 UTC
Message-ID
<7viqwn3g3r.fsf@gitster.siamese.dyndns.org>
In-Reply-To
<20080605081911.GA5946@mithlond.arda.local>
Teemu Likonen <tlikonen@iki.fi> writes:
Show 7 quoted lines
>   $ git
>   usage: [...]
>
>   The most commonly used git commands are:
>   [There's no "help" command in the list.]
>
> I think it belongs there,...

While I do agree that a word 'help' should appear in the above output somewhere, it is a horrible idea to place it in "list of common commands" for two reasons.

 (1) nobody keeps typing "git help".  The reason we may want to mention
     'help' in this output is not because it is common;
 (2) 'help' _is_ different from other commands.  It is something one may
     want to know the presense of when one is still lost after seeing the
     above quoted output, especially when one is starting to learn.  It
     makes it more difficult to spot it if you bury it as one of the
     commands in a list.

It is reasonable to mention 'help' somewhere in the output, but if we are going to do this, we should make it stand out. Perhaps like this.

-- >8 -- $ git usage: git [--version] ...

The most commonly used git commands are:
   add        Add file contents to the index
   bisect     Find the change that introduced a bug by binary search
   branch     List, create, or delete branches
   ...
   show       Show various types of objects
   status     Show the working tree status
   tag        Create, list, delete or verify a tag object signed with GPG

See 'man git' and 'git help' for more information. -- 8< --

Previous: Teemu LikonenNext: Pieter de Bie
Message 10 of 28 in “git wrapper: show similar command names for an unknown command”
  1. git wrapper: show similar command names for an unknown commandJohannes Schindelin, Jun 5, 2008
  2. Add subcommand "help" to the list of most commonly used subcommandsTeemu Likonen, Jun 5, 2008
  3. Johannes SchindelinJun 5, 2008
  4. Teemu LikonenJun 5, 2008
  5. 1/2 Add subcommand "help" to the list of most commonly used subcommandsTeemu Likonen, Jun 5, 2008
  6. 2/2 More informative short description for git-help.txtTeemu Likonen, Jun 5, 2008
  7. Johannes SchindelinJun 5, 2008
  8. Sverre RabbelierJun 5, 2008
  9. Teemu LikonenJun 5, 2008
  10. Junio C HamanoJun 5, 2008
  11. Pieter de BieJun 5, 2008
  12. Teemu LikonenJun 5, 2008
  13. Junio C HamanoJun 5, 2008
  14. David SymondsJun 6, 2008
  15. Wincent ColaiutaJun 5, 2008
  16. Sverre RabbelierJun 5, 2008
  17. Dirk SüsserottJun 5, 2008
  18. Johannes SchindelinJun 5, 2008
  19. Robin RosenbergJun 6, 2008
  20. Wincent ColaiutaJun 6, 2008
  21. Alex RiesenJun 7, 2008
  22. Johannes SchindelinJun 7, 2008
  23. Alex RiesenJun 7, 2008
  24. Junio C HamanoJun 7, 2008
  25. Johannes SchindelinJun 8, 2008
  26. Dirk SüsserottJun 8, 2008
  27. Junio C HamanoJun 8, 2008
  28. Johannes SchindelinJun 8, 2008

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