Re: BUG: 'error: invalid key: pager.show_ref' on 'git show_ref'

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Feb 6, 2015, 22:27 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqqk2zud6b0.fsf@gitster.dls.corp.google.com>
In-Reply-To: <20150206203716.GA10857@peff.net>

Jeff King <peff@peff.net> writes:

Show 5 quoted lines

> A list of enum-like values where we are OK confining the names to the
> alnums is OK to use as an unbounded set of key values. Just like we have
> color.branch.*, we just pick a name within that syntax for any new
> values we add (and that is not even a burden; alnum names are what we
> would have picked anyway).

I would say that color.branch.<slot> names are very different from subcommand names. The latter is exposed to the end users who do not have to know that they can be used and must be usable as config keys.

color.branch.<slot> names were invented _only_ to be used to interact with the config, and nowhere else. Of course you can just pick a name within that "syntax for configuration variables" and be happy with it, because the users are very aware that they are using that name to name a configuration variable.

The names of the subcommands are very different in that they are not just for accessing configuration variables---if the user does not have pager.<cmd>, the user will not use it as configuration keys anywhere in the system.