Re: [PATCH v2] pull: mention "pull", not "fetch" in the error message.

From: Matthieu Moy <matthieu.moy@grenoble-inp.fr>
Date: Mar 27, 2010, 08:52 UTC
Message-ID: <vpqy6hep2ns.fsf@bauges.imag.fr>
In-Reply-To: <20100326231209.GB6797@blimp.localdomain>

Alex Riesen <raa.lkml@gmail.com> writes:

Show 14 quoted lines

> Matthieu Moy, Fri, Mar 26, 2010 16:03:56 +0100:
>> For newbies who've just been taught "git pull", the error message
>> "Where do you want to fetch from today?" is indeed confusing. Change it
>> to "Where do you want to pull from today?" in case fetch was called from
>> pull.
> ...
>> @@ -842,8 +842,12 @@ static int fetch_one(struct remote *remote, int argc, const char **argv)
>>  	int ref_nr = 0;
>>  	int exit_code;
>>
>> +	char *cmd = getenv("GIT_USER_COMMAND");
>
> Isn't the variable name a little too generic? USER_COMMAND doesn't make it
> clear that its only purpose is to pass a string "pull"

It is generic, so that the same variable can be reused elsewhere if needed. When a command "git foo" calls internally "git bar", the instance of "git bar" thinks it's executing the command "bar", but the user thinks he just ran the command "foo". This variable lets git know that and adapt its error message accordingly.

> to an error message which is never even seen under normal
> circumstances.

For some definition of "never ever" and/or "normal circumstances" only, then:

/tmp/test$ git init Initialized empty Git repository in /tmp/test/.git/ /tmp/test$ git pull fatal: Where do you want to pull from today?

(the confused newbie scenario isn't imaginary, it just happened to a colleague of mine)

-- Matthieu Moy http://www-verimag.imag.fr/~moy/