Re: [PATCH v2] rebase: make warning less passive aggressive

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Feb 22, 2024, 17:00 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqqcysoh1t3.fsf@gitster.g>
In-Reply-To: <759cbb30-96dd-456a-baab-b9451d400dcb@app.fastmail.com>

"Kristoffer Haugsbakk" <code@khaugsbakk.name> writes:

> I’ve interpreted this error as: I’m not quite sure but it looks like you
> are not in the middle of a rebase? Like it can’t be completely
> sure. Maybe from a more “primitive” time, implementation-wise?[1] :)

It certainly is a good point. At least one other message in the same command is equally less assertive, e.g.

	die(_("It looks like 'git am' is in progress. Cannot rebase."));

It may have been OK to be uncertain in the earlier times back when we did not much know what we were doing, but by now we should be more assertive, so that the end-users can more easily complain, saying "The command said I was not rebasing, but I was! Here is what I did", which would hopefully be a valuable feedback for improving the logic to diagnose what state we are in.

So, making it clear that it is a statement of a fact, or at least we are telling the users what we _think_ the state is assertively, is a good idea either way.

Thanks.