Re: [RFC] usage_msg_opt() and _optf() must die

From: Martin Ågren <martin.agren@gmail.com>
Date: Aug 6, 2024, 19:24 UTC
Message-ID: <CAN0heSpAVinS8tuUr-o4Js3SymP_aFRpQgTVZYVVtJHVoL-uxw@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <xmqqmslptw3u.fsf_-_@gitster.g>

On Tue, 6 Aug 2024 at 19:11, Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> wrote:

Show 12 quoted lines

> I am very much tempted to suggest us do this.
>
>  void NORETURN usage_msg_opt(const char *msg,
> -                  const char * const *usagestr,
> -                  const struct option *options)
> +                  const char * const *usagestr UNUSED,
> +                  const struct option *options UNUSED)
>  {
> -       die_message("%s\n", msg); /* The extra \n is intentional */
> -       usage_with_options(usagestr, options);
> +       die("%s", msg);
>  }

Yes, I'm very much in favor of this. I know I've been greeted by a wall of usage text more than once and it does feel kind of intimidating.

I just tested this using a silly

  git clone a b c d e f

and the user experience is so much better after this patch. It's simply "fatal: Too many arguments.", which is kind of neat, all things considered. While one can always polish each error message individually, hiding it behind a big usage dump feels wrong.

Martin