Re: [PATCH] git help: promote 'git help -av'

From: Duy Nguyen <pclouds@gmail.com>
Date: Sep 25, 2018, 15:15 UTC
Message-ID: <CACsJy8D1EMCqvBdxbta4oocMF33jwDf1=opXwZ0aRN7LYu=JXg@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <xmqq4leesjdc.fsf@gitster-ct.c.googlers.com>

On Mon, Sep 24, 2018 at 10:58 PM Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> wrote:

Show 6 quoted lines

> I personally find "help -av" a bit too loud to my taste than plain
> "-a", and more importantly, I look at "help -a" primarily to check
> the last section "avaialble from elsewhere on your $PATH" to find
> things like "clang-format", which I do not think is available
> anywhere in "help -av", so I do not think "-av" can be promoted as
> an upward-compatible replacement in its current form.

Yep. I also thought "help -a" was denser but wasn't sure if it actually helps or not. Whenever I look at that block of commands, I end up searching anyway. For my use case, "help -a" could be better served with something like "git apropos".

I think adding another section about external commands in "help -av" would address the "clang-format" stuff. With that, it's probably good enough to completely replace "help -a". It may also be good to list aliases there too in a separate section so you have "all you can type" in one (big) list. -- Duy