# Man pages lack of exit status information 4 messages from 2008-04-17 to 2008-04-17. Participants: Francis Moreau, Wincent Colaiuta, David Mansfield. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/13148 ## Francis Moreau, 2008-04-17 07:45 Subject: Man pages lack of exit status information Message-ID: <38b2ab8a0804170045xa542274pa9f1e434f428b1cd@mail.gmail.com> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/38b2ab8a0804170045xa542274pa9f1e434f428b1cd%40mail.gmail.com ``` Hello, I checked on a couple of git commands' man pages and I couldn't find the exit status of these commands. For example: git-status, git-diff man pages don't tell anything. Am I missing something ? Thanks -- Francis ``` ## Wincent Colaiuta, 2008-04-17 08:17 Subject: Re: Man pages lack of exit status information Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/BE732D9B-D2C2-4578-BC9D-52473C37EA74%40wincent.com In-Reply-To: <38b2ab8a0804170045xa542274pa9f1e434f428b1cd@mail.gmail.com> ``` El 17/4/2008, a las 9:45, Francis Moreau escribió: > Hello, > > I checked on a couple of git commands' man pages and I couldn't find > the exit status of these commands. > > For example: git-status, git-diff man pages don't tell anything. > > Am I missing something ? The "git-diff" man page documents this under the --exit-code option. It probably would be nice to have an "EXIT STATUS" section added to the man pages of those commands for which it would be interesting (like "git-diff") and perhaps to the main "git" man page as well (with general info). If there is interest in this I'll whip up a doc patch. Cheers, Wincent ``` ## Francis Moreau, 2008-04-17 08:38 Subject: Re: Man pages lack of exit status information Message-ID: <38b2ab8a0804170138u717fb753me45ead12720c9e3d@mail.gmail.com> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/38b2ab8a0804170138u717fb753me45ead12720c9e3d%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: ``` On Thu, Apr 17, 2008 at 10:17 AM, Wincent Colaiuta wrote: > El 17/4/2008, a las 9:45, Francis Moreau escribió: > > I checked on a couple of git commands' man pages and I couldn't find > > the exit status of these commands. > > > > For example: git-status, git-diff man pages don't tell anything. > > > > Am I missing something ? > > > > The "git-diff" man page documents this under the --exit-code option. It > probably would be nice to have an "EXIT STATUS" section added to the man > pages of those commands for which it would be interesting (like "git-diff") > and perhaps to the main "git" man page as well (with general info). > > If there is interest in this I'll whip up a doc patch. > I think it makes sense to have such section specially since git plumbings are also designed to be used in higher level scripts. I really use to searching for RETURN VALUE section in man pages when I need what a command returns. And it's a pain to have to read the whole man page for finding such important information. Thanks -- Francis ``` ## David Mansfield, 2008-04-17 17:38 Subject: Re: Man pages lack of exit status information Message-ID: <1208453892.16608.44.camel@gandalf.cobite.com> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/1208453892.16608.44.camel%40gandalf.cobite.com In-Reply-To: <38b2ab8a0804170138u717fb753me45ead12720c9e3d@mail.gmail.com> ``` On Thu, 2008-04-17 at 10:38 +0200, Francis Moreau wrote: > On Thu, Apr 17, 2008 at 10:17 AM, Wincent Colaiuta wrote: > > El 17/4/2008, a las 9:45, Francis Moreau escribió: > > > I checked on a couple of git commands' man pages and I couldn't find > > > the exit status of these commands. > > > > > > For example: git-status, git-diff man pages don't tell anything. > > > > > > Am I missing something ? > > > > > > > The "git-diff" man page documents this under the --exit-code option. It > > probably would be nice to have an "EXIT STATUS" section added to the man > > pages of those commands for which it would be interesting (like "git-diff") > > and perhaps to the main "git" man page as well (with general info). > > > > If there is interest in this I'll whip up a doc patch. > > > > I think it makes sense to have such section specially since git plumbings are > also designed to be used in higher level scripts. > > I really use to searching for RETURN VALUE section in man pages when I need > what a command returns. And it's a pain to have to read the whole man page for > finding such important information. > +1 for adding a RETURN VALUE section to the docs. Yes, please! We need this. I got burned because git-status does something which is non-intuitive, and just yesterday I was asking about git-merge, which I can only assume returns (exits) with 1 if there was a conflict. David ```