Re: [PATCH] convert: clarify line ending conversion warning

From: Tao Klerks <tao@klerks.biz>
Date: Apr 4, 2022, 15:22 UTC
Message-ID: <CAPMMpohXLG2BsO2N1He9aBxm_VuQGCtf32AC67jVkuHQnwVw8A@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <20220404055151.160184-1-alexhenrie24@gmail.com>

On Mon, Apr 4, 2022 at 7:52 AM Alex Henrie <alexhenrie24@gmail.com> wrote:

Show 12 quoted lines

>
> The warning about converting line endings is extremely confusing. Its
> two sentences each use the word "will" without specifying a timeframe,
> which makes it sound like both sentences are referring to the same
> timeframe. On top of that, it uses the term "original line endings"
> without saying whether "original" means LF or CRLF.
>
> Rephrase the warning to be clear that line endings have not been changed
> in the working directory but will be changed on the next checkout, and
> explicitly say which line endings the file currently has in the working
> directory.
>

I think this change is generally a great idea (I agree the existing message is confusing / not as helpful as it could be).

I think we could do slightly better than "the next time you check it out", however, in terms of clarity. I just tested and the way I personally would inelegantly describe it is "the next time you switch to, merge in, or rebase a branch that has different content for this file, or explicitly check the file out". I understand "check it out" is probably technically correct, but as a user, I'm left wondering whether that's the next time I check it out from scratch (i.e., switch to a branch that does not have the file, and then switch back - which, incidentally, is what I originally *assumed* would happen before your patch - I had never checked), or the next time I switch branches at all, or the next time I switch to (/merge in /rebase onto) a branch that has different content for that *specific file*.