From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Tue, 06 Oct 2026 20:33:44 GMT
Subject: Re: [RFC PATCH 2/4] doc: gitbreaking-changes: replace msg-ids with URLs
Message-ID: <xmqqjynud0wn.fsf@gitster.g>
In-Reply-To: <c85f5906-630b-4335-a7ae-09af665bb335@app.fastmail.com>

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

> 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.