Re: [PATCH v2] git-gui: add a readme

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Oct 7, 2019, 01:39 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqqimp149mb.fsf@gitster-ct.c.googlers.com>
In-Reply-To: <20191006220935.31766-1-me@yadavpratyush.com>

Pratyush Yadav <me@yadavpratyush.com> writes:

Show 7 quoted lines

>     -+# Git Gui - A graphical user interface for Git
>     ++# Git GUI - A graphical user interface for Git
>      +
>     -+Git Gui is a GUI for [git](https://git-scm.com/) written in Tcl/Tk. It allows
>     -+you to use the git source control management tools via a GUI. This includes
>     ++Git GUI is a GUI for [Git](https://git-scm.com/) written in Tcl/Tk. It allows
>     ++you to use the Git source control management tools via a GUI. This includes

(ignore me if this has been discussed already)

The first sentence looks overly repeticious (it just looks to me as if saying "Git GUI is a Git GUI written in Tcl/Tk"). Saying

	Git GUI allows you to use the [Git source control management
	tools](https://git-scm.com/) via a GUI and is written in
	Tcl/Tk.  This includes ...

may reduce the repetition somewhat. Also if I were writing this intro, I'd move "writtein in Tcl/Tk" to a lot later or perhaps just drop the phrase from here; what the users can gain from the tool is much more important to the readers of this document than its implementation detail. "Written in Tcl" is given in the installation section anyway.

Show 18 quoted lines

>      +staging, commiting, adding, pushing, etc. It can also be used as a blame
>      +viewer, a tree browser, and a citool (make exactly one commit before exiting
>      +and returning to shell). More details about git-gui can be found in its manual
>      +page by either running `man git-gui`, or by visiting the [online manual
>      +page](https://git-scm.com/docs/git-gui).
>      +
>     -+Git Gui was initially written by Shawn O. Pearce, and is distributed with the
>     -+standard git installation.
>     ++Git GUI was initially written by Shawn O. Pearce, and is distributed with the
>     ++standard Git installation.
>      +
>      +# Building and installing
>      +
>     -+Most of Git Gui is written in Tcl, so there is not much compilation involved.
>     -+Still, some things do need to be done, so you do need to "build" it.
>     ++Most of Git GUI is written in Tcl, so there is no compilation involved. Still,
>     ++some things do need to be done (mostly some substitutions), so you do need to
>     ++"build" it.

It is a good thing to say that it is written in Tcl for two reasons.. The users need to know (1) they need to know Tcl/Tk to hack on it, and (2) they need to install "wish" as a prerequisite to run it.

Does the document mention the latter explicitly? If it does not, it probably should. Also it helps to have msgfmt installed when building git-gui. That also should be mentioned.