Re: [PATCH 1/3] githooks.txt: Improve the intro section

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Apr 25, 2016, 18:23 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqqr3dtlf7n.fsf@gitster.mtv.corp.google.com>
In-Reply-To: <1461529229-15222-1-git-send-email-avarab@gmail.com>

Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason  <avarab@gmail.com> writes:

Show 38 quoted lines

> Change the documentation so that:
>
>  * We don't talk about "little scripts". Hooks can be as big as you
>    want, and don't have to be scripts, just call them "programs".
>
>  * We note what happens with chdir() before a hook is called, nothing
>    documented this explicitly, but the current behavior is
>    predictable. It helps a lot to know what directory these hooks will
>    be executed from.
>
>  * We don't make claims about the example hooks which may not be true
>    depending on the configuration of 'init.templateDir'. Clarify that
>    we're talking about the default settings of git-init in those cases,
>    and move some of this documentation into git-init's documentation
>    about the default templates.
>
>  * We briefly note in the intro that hooks can get their arguments in
>    various different ways, and that how exactly is described below for
>    each hook.
>
> Signed-off-by: Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason <avarab@gmail.com>
> ---
>  Documentation/git-init.txt |  6 +++++-
>  Documentation/githooks.txt | 32 ++++++++++++++++++++------------
>  2 files changed, 25 insertions(+), 13 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/Documentation/git-init.txt b/Documentation/git-init.txt
> index 8174d27..cf37926 100644
> --- a/Documentation/git-init.txt
> +++ b/Documentation/git-init.txt
> @@ -130,7 +130,11 @@ The template directory will be one of the following (in order):
>   - the default template directory: `/usr/share/git-core/templates`.
>  
>  The default template directory includes some directory structure, suggested
> -"exclude patterns" (see linkgit:gitignore[5]), and sample hook files (see linkgit:githooks[5]).
> +"exclude patterns" (see linkgit:gitignore[5]), and example hook files.
> +
> +The example are all disabled by default. To enable a hook, rename it

"sample hooks are all disabled" would be better; if for some unknown reason you are trying to avoid "sample hooks", "examples are all disabled" may be acceptable.

> +by removing its `.sample` suffix. See linkgit:githooks[5] for more
> +info on hook execution.

Makes a first-time reader wonder if I am allowed to ignore the sample and write my own from scratch, or if the only thing that is allowed is to enable what is shipped with .sample suffix.

I wonder it would become less confusing if we placed even _less_ stress on these sample hooks; I find that saying we ship sample hooks that are disabled is probably more confusing.

We do not ship any hook (hence nothing is enabled by definition); there are a handful of sample files that you can use when adding your own hook by either referencing them or taking them as-is, and the latter can be done by removing .sample suffix, which is merely a special case convenience.

Show 23 quoted lines

> diff --git a/Documentation/githooks.txt b/Documentation/githooks.txt
> index a2f59b1..2f3caf7 100644
> --- a/Documentation/githooks.txt
> +++ b/Documentation/githooks.txt
> @@ -13,18 +13,26 @@ $GIT_DIR/hooks/*
>  DESCRIPTION
>  -----------
>  
> -Hooks are little scripts you can place in `$GIT_DIR/hooks`
> -directory to trigger action at certain points.  When
> -'git init' is run, a handful of example hooks are copied into the
> -`hooks` directory of the new repository, but by default they are
> -all disabled.  To enable a hook, rename it by removing its `.sample`
> -suffix.
> -
> -NOTE: It is also a requirement for a given hook to be executable.
> -However - in a freshly initialized repository - the `.sample` files are
> -executable by default.
> -
> -This document describes the currently defined hooks.
> +Hooks are programs you can place in the `$GIT_DIR/hooks` directory to
> +trigger action at certain points. Hooks that don't have the executable
> +bit set are ignored.

The last sentence is POSIXPERM only, though.

> +When a hook is called in a non-bare repository the working directory
> +is guaranteed to be the root of the working tree, in a bare repository
> +the working directory will be the path to the repository. I.e. hooks
> +don't need to worry about the user's current working directory.

This sentence took me two reads until I mentally substituted "the working directory" with "its working diretory", to realize that you are talking about the cwd of the process that runs the hook.

While "is guaranteed" may be technically correct and we have no intention to change it, it sounds unnecessarily strong.

    When a hook is invoked, it is run at the root of the working
    tree in a non-bare repository, or in the $GIT_DIR in a bare
    repository.

perhaps?

> +Hooks can get their arguments via the environment, command-line
> +arguments, and stdin. See the documentation for each below hook for
> +details.

"each below hook" sounds somewhat ungrammatical.