Re: [PATCH] docs: clarify meaning of core.commentString=auto

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Mar 18, 2025, 17:15 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqqa59i45wc.fsf@gitster.g>
In-Reply-To: <Z9lcXR6sL3UWlL33@ugly>

Oswald Buddenhagen <oswald.buddenhagen@gmx.de> writes:

Show 6 quoted lines

>>before making a commit.  But "this makes it impossible" does not
>>quite convey that to casual readers.
>>
> no, i meant what i wrote: it makes it _literally_ impossible. it follows
> from the preceding sentence that _whatever_ is in the template will NOT
> be the comment char.

OK, it (i.e. the order in which things happen) would be a good thing to add to the explanation, to unconfuse readers who (incorrectly) guess that auto comment character is determined and then template is read, which is where my comment came from.

> reading through the thread of the original submission, the feature is a
> workaround for `commit -m` and `commit --amend` being inconsistent wrt.
> message washing.

Perhaps somebody can be talked into fixing it ;-)

With a clear explanation, I am OK if somebody wants to advocate to deprecate (and remove at Git 3.0 boundary) the "auto" support ;-)

Thanks.