Re: [RFC PATCH] format-patch: better commit list for cover letter
- From
Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
- Date
- Feb 21, 2026, 17:33 UTC
- Message-ID
- <xmqqh5rarohf.fsf@gitster.g>
- In-Reply-To
- <aZnOyYGzOByayPFK@exploit>
Mirko Faina <mroik@delayed.space> writes:
Show 46 quoted lines
> On Fri, Feb 20, 2026 at 10:02:21PM -0800, Junio C Hamano wrote: >> >> Just off the top of my head... >> >> Perhaps with >> >> [format] >> commitListFormat ;# true >> >> we use >> >> [1/1] format-patch: better commit list for cover letter >> >> and with >> >> [format] >> commitListFormat="%s (%an)" >> >> we use >> >> [1/1] format-patch: better commit list for cover letter (Mirko Faina) >> >> instead. IOW, the value of the configuration variable is used as >> the format argument "log --format=...", and appended to the fixed >> [n/m] that gives the numbers. >> >> Without format.commitListFormat defined, or when it is defined to >> false, we'd use the traditional "shortlog" format. >> >> Hmm? > > Yes, sounds good. > >> And the corresponding command line option can look like >> >> --cover-letter=(shortlog | log:<log format spec>) >> >> e.g., >> >> --cover-letter=log:"%s (%an)" >> >> to override configured value per invocation basis. > > Not too sure about this one. The point was to have a useful default for > the cover letter template. If users have to pass a format spec through > the command line it kinda defeates the purpose.
When adding a configuration, never assume that the setting the user chooses is good for that user 100% of the time. You'd need a way from the command line to override a configured value.
Not having a command line option does defeat the point of adding a configuration, which can even be used for a setting that is good for the user only 80% of the time.