Re: [PATCH 2/2] sha1_name: fix error message for @{<N>}, @{<date>}

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: May 24, 2013, 17:46 UTC
Message-ID: <7vsj1c9spm.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org>
In-Reply-To: <CALkWK0moMOBUZqqSe521qfa7q8xe0Z5sN10ZRQpPaTu8EuxuDw@mail.gmail.com>

Ramkumar Ramachandra <artagnon@gmail.com> writes:

Show 23 quoted lines

> Junio C Hamano wrote:
>> What is this meant to update?  I recall rewriting this part on
>> purpose.
>
> I was being verbose to show that I handle the detached HEAD case too,
> which I missed last time.
>
>> Even though it appears unusual and invites confusion, it is very
>> consistent to say '' when the user asks for @... as we say 'master'
>> when the user asks for master@...; "inconsistent" is a very bad
>> label for it.
>
> The inconsistency refers to these two:
>
>>>   # on branch master
>>>   $ git show @{10000}
>>>   fatal: Log for '' only has 7 entries.
>
>>>   # detached HEAD case
>>>   $ git show @{10000}
>>>   fatal: Log for '' only has 2005 entries.
>
> Is the commit message unclear?

Very unclear.  You said

    The empty string '' is ugly, inconsistent, and fails to convey
    information...

I was reacting to "inconsistent" by pointing out that showing an empty string is very consistent.

I was _not_ saying that "'' must be kept because it is consistent", of course; that is a consistency that is not useful. Which means inconsistency that does not exist is a reason to rewrite it, nor the rewrite is to gain consistency. It is to make the result more useful.

That is why I rewrote it like so:

    The empty string '' is confusing and does not convey information
    about whose logs we are inspecting.  Change this so that...