Re: [RFC PATCH 2/4] doc: gitbreaking-changes: replace msg-ids with URLs

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Oct 6, 2026, 20:33 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqqjynud0wn.fsf@gitster.g>
In-Reply-To: <c85f5906-630b-4335-a7ae-09af665bb335@app.fastmail.com>

"Kristoffer Haugsbakk" <kristofferhaugsbakk@fastmail.com> writes:

Show 10 quoted lines

> What if we used footnotes for all of the original msg-ids?
>
>     <URL>[1]
>
>     [...]
>
>     [1]: <msg-id>
>
> Or maybe just for the ones that need URL encoding? I personally think it
> would be better to use them for all if we go for this approach.

If this is an attempt to cater to those who prefer raw message IDs over URLs that encode them, I doubt it is an improvement.

A footnote placed far down the document that merely repeats what is already in the URL is uglier than simply using the URL without such a footnote layout. The cost of avoiding this ugliness is rather small for such users. They have to extract the encoded message ID from the URL, perhaps decoding it manually, before using it. That is not too much work.

So, unless we can use a clickable link whose text can be copied to get the raw message ID (which even novice users would clearly recognize as a link rather than an e-mail address), which we already agreed is impossible, let's just provide the URL. Users can copy and paste it into their browsers, and many terminal emulators will let them click it directly, as you mentioned earlier.

Thanks.