Re: git send-email should not allow 'y' for in-reply-to

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Jan 11, 2013, 22:18 UTC
Message-ID: <7vy5fz9xdl.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org>
In-Reply-To: <CALWbr2xasF1y9j3G=-fQ9Wwg41Ymv=MMsWoqyuhweDov9KpRvg@mail.gmail.com>

Antoine Pelisse <apelisse@gmail.com> writes:

Show 31 quoted lines

> On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 10:23 PM, Jeff King <peff@peff.net> wrote:
>> On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 08:13:57PM +0000, Matt Seitz (matseitz) wrote:
>>
>>> > > How about "What Message-ID to use as In-Reply-To for the first email?"
>>> > > or "Provide the Message-ID to use as In-Reply-To for the first
>>> > > email:".
>>> >
>>> > seem fine to me. Maybe somebody who has been confused by it can offer
>>> > more. At any rate, patches welcome.
>>>
>>> Suggestion: "Message-ID to use as In-Reply-To for the first email:".
>>>
>>> Simple and unlikely to generate a "y" or "n" response.  Putting
>>> "Message-ID" first makes it more obvious what data is being asked for
>>> by this prompt.
>>
>> You'd think. But the existing message that has been causing problems is:
>>
>>   Message-ID to be used as In-Reply-To for the first email?
>>
>> which is more or less what you are proposing. I do think a colon rather
>> than a question mark helps indicate that the response is not yes/no.
>
> That is true.
>
> I'm definitely not a wording person, but assuming people who make the
> mistake probably don't read the whole sentence out of laziness (that
> might be somehow extreme though ;), starting it with "what" makes it
> obvious at first sight that you can't answer yes/no.
> That is not true if the message starts with Message-ID .. which
> doesn't look like a question. Now it feels like you have agree or not.

The exchange, when you do not have a configuration, goes like this:

    $ git send-email 0001-filename-of-the-patch.patch
    0001-filename-of-the-patch.patch
    Who should the emails be sent to (if any)? junio
    Are you sure you want to use <junio> [y/N]? y
    Message-ID to be used as In-Reply-To for the first email (if any)?

Why not do this instead?

    $ git send-email 0001-filename-of-the-patch.patch
    0001-filename-of-the-patch.patch
    Who should the emails be sent to (if any)? junio
    Are you sure you want to use <junio> [y/N]? y
    Is this a response to an existing message [y/N]? y
    What is the Message-ID of the message you are replying to?