From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Sat, 21 Oct 2017 01:33:22 GMT
Subject: Re: [PATCH] builtin/push.c: add push.pushOption config
Message-ID: <xmqqlgk5gu8t.fsf@gitster.mtv.corp.google.com>
In-Reply-To: <CAK7vU=0m6qyFrPb9E7HY79v0Vxwn+So3gyhxJZBPVD1t7vX35A@mail.gmail.com>

Marius Paliga <marius.paliga@gmail.com> writes:

> Should we also mention that this option can take multiple values from
> the command line?
>
> -o <option>::
> --push-option=<option>::
>         Transmit the given string to the server, which passes them to
>         the pre-receive as well as the post-receive hook. The given string
>         must not contain a NUL or LF character.
> +       Multiple `--push-option=<option>` are allowed on the command line.
>        When no `--push-option=<option>` is given from the command
>         line, the values of configuration variable `push.pushOption`
>         are used instead.

My first reaction was "Do we do that for other options that can be
given multiple times?  If not, perhaps this is not needed."

Then my second reaction was "Do we have that many options that can
be given multiple times in the first place?  If not, perhaps a
change like this to highlight these oddball options may not be a bad
idea."

And my third reaction was "Well, even if we have many such options,
and even if most of them are not explicitly marked as usable
multiple times in the current documentation, that's not a reason to
keep it that way---the readers ought to be able to find out which
ones can be used multiple times and how these multiple instances
interact with each other, because the usual rule for single-instance
options is 'the last one wins' (e.g. 'git status -uall -uno' should
be the same as 'git status -uno') but to these multi-value options
that rule does not hold".

So, yes, I think it is a good idea.

But it opens a tangent #leftoverbits.  Among the most commonly used
commands listed in "git --help", there indeed are some commands that
take multiple options of the same kind (even if we do not count an
obvious exception "--verbose", which everybody understands as the
number of times it is given indicates the verbosity level).
Somebody needs to go over their documentation and add "this can be
given multiple times from the command line, and here is what happens
to them".

In your suggestion for "push -o <value1> -o <value2>", "here is what
happens" is missing.  Perhaps

	When multiple `--push-option=<option>` are given, they are
	all sent to the other side in the order listed on the
	command line.

or something like that.

Thanks.