Re: [PATCH 1/3] init: document `init.defaultBranch` better

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Nov 22, 2020, 23:40 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqqk0udot9p.fsf@gitster.c.googlers.com>
In-Reply-To: <1518387eaa95098707878459bc74bd5ef2179386.1606087406.git.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>

"Johannes Schindelin via GitGitGadget" <gitgitgadget@gmail.com> writes:

Show 8 quoted lines

> From: Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de>
>
> Our documentation does not mention any future plan to change 'master' to
> other value. It is a good idea to document this, though.
>
> Initial-patch-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
> Signed-off-by: Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de>
> ---

It would have been nicer to have a reference to the original patch <xmqqd00a36wc.fsf@gitster.c.googlers.com> here after the three-dash lines, which would have made it easier for me to say that the updated phrasing is much better.

I do not think I deserve credit for this step in the series. Please drop "initial-patch-by" when you do a v2.

Show 16 quoted lines

>  Documentation/git-init.txt | 11 +++++++----
>  1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/Documentation/git-init.txt b/Documentation/git-init.txt
> index 59ecda6c17..19f9f16e6b 100644
> --- a/Documentation/git-init.txt
> +++ b/Documentation/git-init.txt
> @@ -20,8 +20,9 @@ DESCRIPTION
>  
>  This command creates an empty Git repository - basically a `.git`
>  directory with subdirectories for `objects`, `refs/heads`,
> -`refs/tags`, and template files.  An initial `HEAD` file that
> -references the HEAD of the master branch is also created.
> +`refs/tags`, and template files.  An initial branch without any
> +commits will be created (see the `--initial-branch` option below
> +for its name).

"branch without any commits" is certainly easier to understand than "unborn branch", which was in my weatherballoon patch.

Stepping back a bit more, I wonder if we want to make reference to implementation details even less, e.g.

    ... an empty Git repository---a `.git` directory to store
    objects, branches and tags, hooks, and template files.

which would be in the same spirit as not mentioning 'HEAD file'.

Show 10 quoted lines

> @@ -73,8 +74,10 @@ If this is reinitialization, the repository will be moved to the specified path.
>  -b <branch-name>::
>  --initial-branch=<branch-name>::
>  
> -Use the specified name for the initial branch in the newly created repository.
> -If not specified, fall back to the default name: `master`.
> +Use the specified name for the initial branch in the newly created
> +repository.  If not specified, fall back to the default name (currently
> +`master`, but that will be changed in the future; The name can be customized
> +via the `init.defaultBranch` configuration variable).

s/The/the/ after semicolon that ends a half-sentence. Or alternatively, s/in the future;/in the future./

>  
>  --shared[=(false|true|umask|group|all|world|everybody|0xxx)]::