Re: About git reporting missing newline for symlinks

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Oct 13, 2022, 18:50 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqqtu47fti9.fsf@gitster.g>
In-Reply-To: <221013.86k053lkvu.gmgdl@evledraar.gmail.com>

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

Show 8 quoted lines

>>> 	\ The filename pointed to by the symlink does not end in a newline
>>
>> While I do not think it would break anybody, I doubt it would give
>> us much value.  One line above that output is a line that any user,
>> who is vaguely familiar with the contents being compared, can
>> recognize as giving a pathname, the contents of the symbolic link.
>
> Clearly it confused the initial reporter upthread :)

But to such a user, I highly suspect that the rephased message above still looks like a warning, and will result in the same reaction.

IOW, you want to explain why "does not end in a newline" is worth expressing in the output. Saying "does not end in a newline" alone would tell the user what they already know (i.e. the symlink stores the target filename without an extra LF at the end).