Re: [PATCH v2 3/3] fetch: reduce duplicate in ref update status lines

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Jun 3, 2016, 20:53 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqqtwhangdn.fsf@gitster.mtv.corp.google.com>
In-Reply-To: <5751E1C1.8080507@xiplink.com>

Marc Branchaud <marcnarc@xiplink.com> writes:

Show 9 quoted lines

>>>   * [new branch]      2nd-index -> pclouds/2nd-index
>>>   * [new branch]      some-kind-of-long-ref-name
>>>                                 -> pclouds/some-kind-of-long-ref-name
>>>   * [new branch]      3nd-index -> pclouds/3nd-index
> ...
> I think aligning it with the -> on the other lines makes the most
> aesthetic sense.
>
> Are you worried that the right-hand-side ref might still wrap?

Not really.

Given that we reserve some fixed screen real estate on the left hand side for the sign and explanation (like [new branch]) and 4 columns in the middle for " -> ", we have around 80-25=55 columns to work with to fit "2nd-index" and such twice plus "pclouds/" once. Assuming that remote names are not overly long (say, around 10 columns), that leaves about 20-25 columns for the branch name proper.

By punting on the effort to find a readable format that does not repeat the same info twice, we are sending a signal to the users that they cannot use a meaningful sentence as the name of a branch name; they need to stay within a relatively short (i.e. 1/4 of a line width) branch name, to avoid triggering this multi-line behaviour.

The same 55 columns minus remote name, e.g. around 40 columns, could have been used to express the branch name once, if we managed to find a non-redundant format.

That is what bothers me somewhat.