git/list[1] front-page[2] threads[3] people[4] search[5] about
 

Re* [BUG] git-bisect man page description of terms command doesn't mention old/new support

From
Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date
Dec 9, 2023, 16:13 UTC
Message-ID
<xmqqzfyjmk02.fsf@gitster.g>
In-Reply-To
<CAC4O8c9ieZC4SBJf54ZuTfAvnkhGuDaibBQ-m9Zw_n5VhUFPag@mail.gmail.com>
Britton Kerin <britton.kerin@gmail.com> writes:
Show 11 quoted lines
> It's a very small issue but it seems that git bisect terms does
> support --term-old and --term-new options, however the man page says:
>
>     git bisect terms [--term-good | --term-bad]
>
> The description for the start subcommand does document the support for
> the more general terms correctly:
>
>     git bisect start [--term-{new,bad}=<term> --term-{old,good}=<term>]
>
> so maybe it's worth fixing the git bisect terms documentation.
In the description, we see
    To get a reminder of the currently used terms, use
    ------------------------------------------------
    git bisect terms
    ------------------------------------------------
    You can get just the old (respectively new) term with `git bisect terms
    --term-old` or `git bisect terms --term-good`.
so you could read that
	git bisect terms --term-good
	git bisect terms --term-old

are the same thing, and when you squint your eyes, you can probably guess that

	git bisect terms --term-bad
	git bisect terms --term-new

are the same. But I agree that the documentation should not force you to guess. This dates back to 21b55e33 (bisect: add 'git bisect terms' to view the current terms, 2015-06-29).

------------ >8 ------------ >8 ------------ >8 ------------
Subject: [PATCH] bisect: document "terms" subcommand more fully

The documentation for "git bisect terms", although it did not hide any information, was a bit incomplete and forced readers to fill in the blanks to get the complete picture.

Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
---
 Documentation/git-bisect.txt | 8 +++++---
 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
diff --git c/Documentation/git-bisect.txt w/Documentation/git-bisect.txt
index 191b4a42b6..16daa09c78 100644
--- c/Documentation/git-bisect.txt
+++ w/Documentation/git-bisect.txt
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ on the subcommand:
 		  [--no-checkout] [--first-parent] [<bad> [<good>...]] [--] [<paths>...]
  git bisect (bad|new|<term-new>) [<rev>]
  git bisect (good|old|<term-old>) [<rev>...]
- git bisect terms [--term-good | --term-bad]
+ git bisect terms [--term-(good|old) | --term-(bad|new)]
  git bisect skip [(<rev>|<range>)...]
  git bisect reset [<commit>]
  git bisect (visualize|view)
@@ -165,8 +165,10 @@ To get a reminder of the currently used terms, use
 git bisect terms
 ------------------------------------------------
 
-You can get just the old (respectively new) term with `git bisect terms
---term-old` or `git bisect terms --term-good`.
+You can get just the old term with `git bisect terms --term-old`
+or `git bisect terms --term-good`; `git bisect terms --term-new`
+and `git bisect terms --term-bad` can be used to learn how to call
+the commits more recent than the sought change.
 
 If you would like to use your own terms instead of "bad"/"good" or
 "new"/"old", you can choose any names you like (except existing bisect
Previous: Britton KerinNext: Matthieu Moy
Message 2 of 11 in “[BUG] git-bisect man page description of terms command doesn't mention old/new support”
  1. Britton KerinDec 9, 2023
  2. Re* [BUG] git-bisect man page description of terms command doesn't mention old/new supportJunio C Hamano, Dec 9, 2023
  3. Matthieu MoyDec 11, 2023
  4. Junio C HamanoDec 11, 2023
  5. 0/2 minute "git bisect" doc updatesJunio C Hamano, Feb 7, 2024
  6. 1/2 bisect: document "terms" subcommand more fullyJunio C Hamano, Feb 7, 2024
  7. Kristoffer HaugsbakkFeb 8, 2024
  8. Junio C HamanoFeb 8, 2024
  9. 2/2 bisect: document command line arguments for "bisect start"Junio C Hamano, Feb 7, 2024
  10. Jean-Noël AvilaFeb 8, 2024
  11. Christian CouderFeb 9, 2024

Read the whole thread, see it on lore, or plain text.

$ cat FOOTERMessages come from the public archive at lore.kernel.org/git, fetched every hour. The front page is chosen and written each morning by an AI editor and can be wrong; the threads themselves are the record. About and API. For agents: an MCP server at https://gitlist.dev/mcp, and any thread, story or person page as Markdown by adding .md to its URL (or sending Accept: text/markdown). Details in /llms.txt.