Re: [PATCH] show-index: the short help should say the command reads from its input
- From
Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
- Date
- Dec 27, 2024, 14:06 UTC
- Message-ID
- <Z260VVuIH_-0Ylis@pks.im>
- In-Reply-To
- <xmqqfrmidyhk.fsf@gitster.g>
On Fri, Dec 20, 2024 at 10:02:15AM -0800, Junio C Hamano wrote:
Show 15 quoted lines
> The short help text given by "git show-index -h" says > > $ git show-index -h > usage: git show-index [--object-format=<hash-algorithm>] > > --[no-]object-format <hash-algorithm> > specify the hash algorithm to use > > > The command takes a pack .idx file from its standard input. The > user has to _know_ this, as there is no indication from this output. > > Give a hint that the data to work on is fed from its standard input. > > Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Makes sense.
Show 17 quoted lines
> * I also found the option description somewhat funny in that > > (1) it makes it look like "--no-object-format sha256" is > accepted, which is not a case, and > > (2) "git show-index --no-object-format" already is a curious > thing to say; the command certainly needs to work in _some_ > format. > > But (2) is common to all the usual command line options to allow > defeating another instance of the same option that is given > positively previously on the command line (i.e. "git show-index > --object-format=sha256 --no-object-format" should behave as if no > object-format option was given), and (1) is shared by all the > other options that allow such override. So I'll let it pass, but > if we really wanted to improve it, the fix should go into how the > parse-options subsystem works.
Can't we already fix this via OPT_NONEG? Or is your point rather that it is awkward in general and choices like this should never have a negated variant by default?
Show 15 quoted lines
> builtin/show-index.c | 2 +-
> 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
>
> diff --git c/builtin/show-index.c w/builtin/show-index.c
> index f164c01bbe..8678b741a4 100644
> --- c/builtin/show-index.c
> +++ w/builtin/show-index.c
> @@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
> #include "parse-options.h"
>
> static const char *const show_index_usage[] = {
> - "git show-index [--object-format=<hash-algorithm>]",
> + "git show-index [--object-format=<hash-algorithm>] < <pack-idx-file>",
> NULL
> };I was wondering whether we have any other usage strings that show an expected stdin like this, and indeed we do. The usage string in "builtin/mailinfo.c" uses different syntax though without the angular brackets, but "builtin/pack-objects.c" does use them. I think with the angular brackets is more idiomatic in our codebase though, so the addition looks good to me.
Patrick