Re: [PATCH] fix: include the type flag in the cli docs

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Feb 27, 2022, 19:48 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqqilt03xat.fsf@gitster.g>
In-Reply-To: <f171e157-7dbc-b07e-7164-c62e2427fbe2@gmail.com>

Bagas Sanjaya <bagasdotme@gmail.com> writes:

Show 15 quoted lines

> On 26/02/22 12.34, Matheus Felipe via GitGitGadget wrote:
>> From: Matheus Felipe <matheusfelipeog@protonmail.com>
>> When the `git config --global --help` command is invoked,
>> the cli documentation is shown in the terminal with a small
>> error in one of the values of the Type group, which is the
>> absence of the type flag in the `--type` argument.
>> This commit fixes that.
>> 
>
> What about the commit message below?
>
> ```
> The usage help for --type option of `git config` is missing `type`
> in the argument placeholder (`<>`). Add it.
> ```

It is more concise, and at the same time points out the problem being addressed a lot more explicitly. Much better.

Show 5 quoted lines

>> -	OPT_CALLBACK('t', "type", &type, "", N_("value is given this type"), option_parse_type),
>> +	OPT_CALLBACK('t', "type", &type, N_("type"), N_("value is given this type"), option_parse_type),
>
>
> The help should be `give the value the specified type`.

I am not sure if this is much of an improvement.

    $ git config --type=bool junk.flag 0
    $ git config junk.flag
    false

uses the type information to turn "0" into "false" before it writes the value set to the variable to the file, while

    $ git config junk.flag 0
    $ git config junk.flag
    0
    $ git config --type=bool junk.flag
    false

shows that a stored value of "0" can be turned into "false" when showing. "Give the value the specified type" does not capture the essense in either direction.

    Before setting or showing, convert the value to its canonical
    representation according to the given type.

is what we want to convey, but it is quote a mouthful as-is.

Saying "Assume the value is of this type" would strongly imply "Convert ... to its canonical reporesentation", and the current "value is given this type" may be a close enough and shorter approximation of it. I dunno.