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[PATCH] bisect: update usage and docs to match each other

From
Ruoyu Zhong via GitGitGadget <gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
Date
Oct 28, 2025, 22:27 UTC
Message-ID
<pull.2084.git.git.1761690461697.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
From: Ruoyu Zhong <zhongruoyu@outlook.com>

Update the usage string of `git bisect` and documentation to match each other. While at it, also:

1. Move the synopsis of `git bisect` subcommands to the synopsis
   section, so that the test `t0450-txt-doc-vs-help.sh` can pass.
2. Document the `git bisect next` subcommand, which exists in the code
   but is missing from the documentation.
See also: [1].
[1]: https://lore.kernel.org/git/3DA38465-7636-4EEF-B074-53E4628F5355@gmail.com/
Suggested-by: Ben Knoble <ben.knoble@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Ruoyu Zhong <zhongruoyu@outlook.com>
---
    bisect: update usage and docs to match each other
Published-As: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/releases/tag/pr-git-2084%2FZhongRuoyu%2Fgit-bisect-docs-v1
Fetch-It-Via: git fetch https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git pr-git-2084/ZhongRuoyu/git-bisect-docs-v1
Pull-Request: https://github.com/git/git/pull/2084
 Documentation/git-bisect.adoc | 43 +++++++++++++++++++++--------------
 builtin/bisect.c              | 21 ++++++++++-------
 t/t0450/adoc-help-mismatches  |  1 -
 3 files changed, 39 insertions(+), 26 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/git-bisect.adoc b/Documentation/git-bisect.adoc
index 58dbb74a15..b0078dda0e 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-bisect.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/git-bisect.adoc
@@ -9,26 +9,22 @@ git-bisect - Use binary search to find the commit that introduced a bug
 SYNOPSIS
 --------
 [verse]
-'git bisect' <subcommand> <options>
+'git bisect' start [--term-(bad|new)=<term-new> --term-(good|old)=<term-old>]
+		   [--no-checkout] [--first-parent] [<bad> [<good>...]] [--] [<pathspec>...]
+'git bisect' (bad|new|<term-new>) [<rev>]
+'git bisect' (good|old|<term-old>) [<rev>...]
+'git bisect' terms [--term-(good|old) | --term-(bad|new)]
+'git bisect' skip [(<rev>|<range>)...]
+'git bisect' next
+'git bisect' reset [<commit>]
+'git bisect' (visualize|view)
+'git bisect' replay <logfile>
+'git bisect' log
+'git bisect' run <cmd> [<arg>...]
+'git bisect' help
 
 DESCRIPTION
 -----------
-The command takes various subcommands, and different options depending
-on the subcommand:
-
- git bisect start [--term-(bad|new)=<term-new> --term-(good|old)=<term-old>]
-		  [--no-checkout] [--first-parent] [<bad> [<good>...]] [--] [<pathspec>...]
- git bisect (bad|new|<term-new>) [<rev>]
- git bisect (good|old|<term-old>) [<rev>...]
- git bisect terms [--term-(good|old) | --term-(bad|new)]
- git bisect skip [(<rev>|<range>)...]
- git bisect reset [<commit>]
- git bisect (visualize|view)
- git bisect replay <logfile>
- git bisect log
- git bisect run <cmd> [<arg>...]
- git bisect help
-
 This command uses a binary search algorithm to find which commit in
 your project's history introduced a bug. You use it by first telling
 it a "bad" commit that is known to contain the bug, and a "good"
@@ -295,6 +291,19 @@ $ git bisect skip v2.5 v2.5..v2.6
 This tells the bisect process that the commits between `v2.5` and
 `v2.6` (inclusive) should be skipped.
 
+Bisect next
+~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Normally, after marking a revision as good or bad, Git automatically
+computes and checks out the next revision to test. However, if you need to
+explicitly request the next bisection step, you can use:
+
+------------
+$ git bisect next
+------------
+
+You might use this to resume the bisection process after interrupting it
+by checking out a different revision.
 
 Cutting down bisection by giving more parameters to bisect start
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
diff --git a/builtin/bisect.c b/builtin/bisect.c
index 8b8d870cd1..a500993bcb 100644
--- a/builtin/bisect.c
+++ b/builtin/bisect.c
@@ -27,13 +27,14 @@ static GIT_PATH_FUNC(git_path_bisect_first_parent, "BISECT_FIRST_PARENT")
 static GIT_PATH_FUNC(git_path_bisect_run, "BISECT_RUN")
 
 #define BUILTIN_GIT_BISECT_START_USAGE \
-	N_("git bisect start [--term-(new|bad)=<term> --term-(old|good)=<term>]" \
-	   "    [--no-checkout] [--first-parent] [<bad> [<good>...]] [--]" \
-	   "    [<pathspec>...]")
-#define BUILTIN_GIT_BISECT_STATE_USAGE \
-	N_("git bisect (good|bad) [<rev>...]")
+	N_("git bisect start [--term-(bad|new)=<term-new> --term-(good|old)=<term-old>]\n" \
+	   "                 [--no-checkout] [--first-parent] [<bad> [<good>...]] [--] [<pathspec>...]")
+#define BUILTIN_GIT_BISECT_BAD_USAGE \
+	N_("git bisect (bad|new|<term-new>) [<rev>]")
+#define BUILTIN_GIT_BISECT_GOOD_USAGE \
+	N_("git bisect (good|old|<term-old>) [<rev>...]")
 #define BUILTIN_GIT_BISECT_TERMS_USAGE \
-	"git bisect terms [--term-good | --term-bad]"
+	"git bisect terms [--term-(good|old) | --term-(bad|new)]"
 #define BUILTIN_GIT_BISECT_SKIP_USAGE \
 	N_("git bisect skip [(<rev>|<range>)...]")
 #define BUILTIN_GIT_BISECT_NEXT_USAGE \
@@ -41,17 +42,20 @@ static GIT_PATH_FUNC(git_path_bisect_run, "BISECT_RUN")
 #define BUILTIN_GIT_BISECT_RESET_USAGE \
 	N_("git bisect reset [<commit>]")
 #define BUILTIN_GIT_BISECT_VISUALIZE_USAGE \
-	"git bisect visualize"
+	"git bisect (visualize|view)"
 #define BUILTIN_GIT_BISECT_REPLAY_USAGE \
 	N_("git bisect replay <logfile>")
 #define BUILTIN_GIT_BISECT_LOG_USAGE \
 	"git bisect log"
 #define BUILTIN_GIT_BISECT_RUN_USAGE \
 	N_("git bisect run <cmd> [<arg>...]")
+#define BUILTIN_GIT_BISECT_HELP_USAGE \
+	"git bisect help"
 
 static const char * const git_bisect_usage[] = {
 	BUILTIN_GIT_BISECT_START_USAGE,
-	BUILTIN_GIT_BISECT_STATE_USAGE,
+	BUILTIN_GIT_BISECT_BAD_USAGE,
+	BUILTIN_GIT_BISECT_GOOD_USAGE,
 	BUILTIN_GIT_BISECT_TERMS_USAGE,
 	BUILTIN_GIT_BISECT_SKIP_USAGE,
 	BUILTIN_GIT_BISECT_NEXT_USAGE,
@@ -60,6 +64,7 @@ static const char * const git_bisect_usage[] = {
 	BUILTIN_GIT_BISECT_REPLAY_USAGE,
 	BUILTIN_GIT_BISECT_LOG_USAGE,
 	BUILTIN_GIT_BISECT_RUN_USAGE,
+	BUILTIN_GIT_BISECT_HELP_USAGE,
 	NULL
 };
 
diff --git a/t/t0450/adoc-help-mismatches b/t/t0450/adoc-help-mismatches
index 2c6ecd5fc8..8ee2d3f7c8 100644
--- a/t/t0450/adoc-help-mismatches
+++ b/t/t0450/adoc-help-mismatches
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ add
 am
 apply
 archive
-bisect
 blame
 branch
 check-ref-format

base-commit: 57da342c786f59eaeb436c18635cc1c7597733d9

-- 
gitgitgadget
Next: Ben Knoble
Message 1 of 2 in “bisect: update usage and docs to match each other”
  1. bisect: update usage and docs to match each otherRuoyu Zhong via GitGitGadget, Oct 28, 2025
  2. Ben KnobleOct 29, 2025

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