Re: [PATCH v2] git-pull.sh: better warning message for "git pull" on detached head.

From: Matthieu Moy <matthieu.moy@imag.fr>
Date: Apr 7, 2009, 11:36 UTC
Message-ID: <vpqvdpgn19y.fsf@bauges.imag.fr>
In-Reply-To: <20090407104145.GA22658@pvv.org>

Finn Arne Gangstad <finnag@pvv.org> writes:

Show 13 quoted lines

> On Tue, Apr 07, 2009 at 11:56:21AM +0200, Matthieu Moy wrote:
>> Otherwise, git complains about not finding a branch to pull from in
>> 'branch..merge', which is hardly understandable. While we're there,
>> reword the sentences slightly.
>> [...]
>> +	if [ -z "$curr_branch" ]; then
>> +		echo "You asked me to pull without telling me which branch you want"
>> +		echo "to merge with, and you are on a detached HEAD, so I cannot"
>> [...]
>
> In this case why can't we just do
>
> echo "You are currently not on any branch."

Well, I would understand this as "you can't pull when you're not on a branch", which would be incorrect.

> echo "git pull cannot be run without arguments unless you are on a branch."

This is better (less missleading).

> And possibly also something like this:
>
> echo "Usage: git pull <repository> <refspec>."
> echo " See git-pull(1) for details."

This usage string would be incorrect, repository and refspec are not
always mandatory. To be correct, it should be
Usage: git pull [<repository> <refspec>]
and then you're back to the problem of having to explain why they are
optionnal.

> If you need all the verbosity this error otherwise gives, "detached
> HEAD" is probably going to be confusing?

Grepping the source, "not on a branch" seems more widely used than "detached head" in the UI (including in another place of git-pull.sh), so, yes, something like this would be better:

	if [ -z "$curr_branch" ]; then
		echo "You are not currently on a branch, so I cannot use any"
		echo "'branch.<branchname>.merge' in your configuration file."
		echo "Please specify which branch you want to merge on the command"
		echo "line and try again (e.g. 'git pull <repository> <refspec>')."
		echo "See git-pull(1) for details."
	else

-- 
Matthieu