Re: [PATCH] Documentation: improve description of GIT_EDITOR and preference order

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Mar 23, 2012, 18:18 UTC
Message-ID: <7vty1ftc4e.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org>
In-Reply-To: <loom.20120323T133648-453@post.gmane.org>

Rodrigo Silva "(MestreLion)"  <linux@rodrigosilva.com> writes:

Show 34 quoted lines

> Previously GIT_EDITOR was not listed in git(1) "Environment Variables" section,
> which could be very confusing to users. Include it in "other" subsection along
> with a link to git-var(1), since that is the page that fully describes all
> places where editor can be set and also their preference order.
>
> Also, git-var(1) did not say that hardcoded fallback 'vi' may have been changed
> at build time. A user could be puzzled if 'nano' pops up even when none of the
> mentioned environment vars or config.editor are set. Clarify this.
>
> Ideally, the build system should be changed to reflect the chosen fallback
> editor when creating the man pages. Not sure if that is even possible though.
>
> Signed-off-by: Rodrigo Silva (MestreLion) <linux@rodrigosilva.com>
> ---
>  Documentation/git-var.txt |    3 ++-
>  Documentation/git.txt     |    6 ++++++
>  2 files changed, 8 insertions(+), 1 deletions(-)
>
>  Granted, this is a very minor issue, but if any user stumble on this, this
>  patch may reduce investigation from 50 minutes to 5
>
>  Patch was tested in 1.7.1, but sources show this is still present in 1.7.10-rc1
>
> diff --git a/Documentation/git-var.txt b/Documentation/git-var.txt
> index 5317cc2..9c49163 100644
> --- a/Documentation/git-var.txt
> +++ b/Documentation/git-var.txt
> @@ -43,7 +43,8 @@ GIT_EDITOR::
>      `$SOME_ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLE`, `"C:\Program Files\Vim\gvim.exe"
>      --nofork`.  The order of preference is the `$GIT_EDITOR`
>      environment variable, then `core.editor` configuration, then
> -    `$VISUAL`, then `$EDITOR`, and then finally 'vi'.
> +    `$VISUAL`, then `$EDITOR`, and then finally a hardcoded fallback
> +    editor set at build time, by default 'vi'.

I do not think this is needed; please file a bug to whoever is replacing 'vi' with 'nono' and distributing the resulting binary, without updating this part of the documentation.

Show 14 quoted lines

> diff --git a/Documentation/git.txt b/Documentation/git.txt
> index d5b7667..fac57ba 100644
> --- a/Documentation/git.txt
> +++ b/Documentation/git.txt
> @@ -711,6 +711,12 @@ other
>  	a pager.  See also the `core.pager` option in
>  	linkgit:git-config[1].
>  
> +'GIT_EDITOR'::
> +    This environment variable overrides `$EDITOR` and `$VISUAL`.
> +    It is used by several git comands when, on interactive mode,
> +    an editor is to be launched. See also linkgit:git-var[1]
> +    and the `core.editor` option in linkgit:git-config[1].
> +

This is a good addition.  Thanks.

>  'GIT_SSH'::
>  	If this environment variable is set then 'git fetch'
>  	and 'git push' will use this command instead