Re: [PATCH 2/5] doc: git-add: start man page with an example

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Aug 12, 2025, 22:12 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqqwm78p4uh.fsf@gitster.g>
In-Reply-To: <152d47a3-7744-476a-8ab8-43b7b52b67ea@app.fastmail.com>

"Julia Evans" <julia@jvns.ca> writes:

Show 8 quoted lines

>> Wouldn't "add file X" confuse folks who still remember how other
>> SCMs before Git operated (i.e. "file X is now known, so if I make
>> further changes to X next 'commit' command will record it") into
>> thinking that Git would do the same?
>
> The point about Subversion is interesting: I would expect that most
> people learning about Git's data model in 2025 have never used
> Subversion.

Even though I promised that I won't comment on this thread further for now, I'd have to respond to this one.

Times change. I didn't have Subversion in mind when I wrote the above. It was CVS ;-)

Yes, I have heard that for recent crop of developers especially newgrads, Git is the only SCM they've ever touched. If we can assume that the data and mental model of Git is natural for our intended audiences, that is great (we can also forget about the diff/patch based world view, which comes from how CVS/RCS stored their revision data, and assume that the snapshot based world view is natural to our readers).