threads / patch / 13513

patchRephrased git-describe description

Subject: [PATCH] Rephrased git-describe description

## tl;dr

4 messages between May 14, 2008 and May 14, 2008. Diffs are folded; open one to read it.

replies: 3people: 2as markdown or json

Ian Hilt· May 14, 2008, 14:22 UTC · lore
Made description more readable.
Signed-off-by: Ian Hilt <ian.hilt@gmail.com>
---
 Documentation/git-describe.txt |    7 ++++---
 1 files changed, 4 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
Show changes to Documentation/git-describe.txt +4 −3
diff --git a/Documentation/git-describe.txt b/Documentation/git-describe.txt
index d9aa2f2..f3f07e4 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-describe.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-describe.txt
@@ -13,9 +13,10 @@ SYNOPSIS
 DESCRIPTION
 -----------
 The command finds the most recent tag that is reachable from a
-commit, and if the commit itself is pointed at by the tag, shows
-the tag.  Otherwise, it suffixes the tag name with the number of
-additional commits and the abbreviated object name of the commit.
+commit.  If the tag points to the commit, then only the tag is
+shown.  Otherwise, the number of additional commits on top of the
+tagged object and the abbreviated object name of the most recent
+commit are suffixed to the tag name.
 
 
 OPTIONS
-- 
1.5.3.7
Kevin Ballard· May 14, 2008, 16:57 UTC · re: Ian Hilt · lore

Re: [PATCH] Rephrased git-describe description

Sorry for the double-posting, Ian, but my first email was rejected from the list because my mail client attached an HTML part.

On May 14, 2008, at 9:22 AM, Ian Hilt wrote:
Show 23 quoted lines
> Made description more readable.
>
> Signed-off-by: Ian Hilt <ian.hilt@gmail.com>
> ---
> Documentation/git-describe.txt |    7 ++++---
> 1 files changed, 4 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/Documentation/git-describe.txt b/Documentation/git- 
> describe.txt
> index d9aa2f2..f3f07e4 100644
> --- a/Documentation/git-describe.txt
> +++ b/Documentation/git-describe.txt
> @@ -13,9 +13,10 @@ SYNOPSIS
> DESCRIPTION
> -----------
> The command finds the most recent tag that is reachable from a
> -commit, and if the commit itself is pointed at by the tag, shows
> -the tag.  Otherwise, it suffixes the tag name with the number of
> -additional commits and the abbreviated object name of the commit.
> +commit.  If the tag points to the commit, then only the tag is
> +shown.  Otherwise, the number of additional commits on top of the
> +tagged object and the abbreviated object name of the most recent
> +commit are suffixed to the tag name.

I disagree that this is more readable. Specifically that last sentence. In the original description it tells me what it's doing (suffixing) before it tells me what objects it's using. In your version, it tells me the objects, then tells me what it's doing (suffixing), so I have to effectively process the sentence in reverse. In other words, it took me two readings of your last sentence to match the one reading of the original last sentence.

Also, you should use a more descriptive commit description. At the very least, do something like

git-describe: Make description more readable.
-Kevin Ballard
-- 
Kevin Ballard
http://kevin.sb.org
kevin@sb.org
http://www.tildesoft.com
Ian Hilt· May 14, 2008, 18:00 UTC · re: Kevin Ballard · lore

Re: [PATCH] Rephrased git-describe description

On Wed, 14 May 2008 at 11:57am -0500, Kevin Ballard wrote:
Show 20 quoted lines
> On May 14, 2008, at 9:22 AM, Ian Hilt wrote:
>> DESCRIPTION
>> -----------
>> The command finds the most recent tag that is reachable from a
>> -commit, and if the commit itself is pointed at by the tag, shows
>> -the tag.  Otherwise, it suffixes the tag name with the number of
>> -additional commits and the abbreviated object name of the commit.
>> +commit.  If the tag points to the commit, then only the tag is
>> +shown.  Otherwise, the number of additional commits on top of the
>> +tagged object and the abbreviated object name of the most recent
>> +commit are suffixed to the tag name.
>
> I disagree that this is more readable. Specifically that last
> sentence. In the original description it tells me what it's
> doing (suffixing) before it tells me what objects it's
> using. In your version, it tells me the objects, then tells me
> what it's doing (suffixing), so I have to effectively process
> the sentence in reverse. In other words, it took me two
> readings of your last sentence to match the one reading of the
> original last sentence.
How about this?
   The command finds the most recent tag that is reachable from a
   commit.  If the tag points to the commit, then only the tag is
   shown.  Otherwise, it suffixes to the tag name the number of
   additional commits on top of the tagged object and the
   abbreviated object name of the most recent commit.
> Also, you should use a more descriptive commit description. At the very 
> least, do something like
>
> git-describe: Make description more readable.
Something like this:
git-describe: Changed subject from commit to tag in the first
               sentence, clarified what the number of commits is
               referring to, and pointed out which object is
               referenced by the suffixed object name.
-- 
Ian Hilt
ian.hilt (at) gmail.com
GnuPG key: 0x4AFC1EE3
Kevin Ballard· May 14, 2008, 18:03 UTC · re: Ian Hilt · lore

Re: [PATCH] Rephrased git-describe description

On May 14, 2008, at 1:00 PM, Ian Hilt wrote:
Show 30 quoted lines
> On Wed, 14 May 2008 at 11:57am -0500, Kevin Ballard wrote:
>
>> On May 14, 2008, at 9:22 AM, Ian Hilt wrote:
>>> DESCRIPTION
>>> -----------
>>> The command finds the most recent tag that is reachable from a
>>> -commit, and if the commit itself is pointed at by the tag, shows
>>> -the tag.  Otherwise, it suffixes the tag name with the number of
>>> -additional commits and the abbreviated object name of the commit.
>>> +commit.  If the tag points to the commit, then only the tag is
>>> +shown.  Otherwise, the number of additional commits on top of the
>>> +tagged object and the abbreviated object name of the most recent
>>> +commit are suffixed to the tag name.
>>
>> I disagree that this is more readable. Specifically that last
>> sentence. In the original description it tells me what it's
>> doing (suffixing) before it tells me what objects it's
>> using. In your version, it tells me the objects, then tells me
>> what it's doing (suffixing), so I have to effectively process
>> the sentence in reverse. In other words, it took me two
>> readings of your last sentence to match the one reading of the
>> original last sentence.
>
> How about this?
>
>  The command finds the most recent tag that is reachable from a
>  commit.  If the tag points to the commit, then only the tag is
>  shown.  Otherwise, it suffixes to the tag name the number of
>  additional commits on top of the tagged object and the
>  abbreviated object name of the most recent commit.
How about this?

The command finds the most recent tag that is reachable from a commit. If the tag points to the commit, then only the tag is shown. Otherwise, it suffixes the tag name with the number of additional commits on top of the tagged object and the abbreviated object name of the most recent commit.

Show 11 quoted lines
>> Also, you should use a more descriptive commit description. At the  
>> very least, do something like
>>
>> git-describe: Make description more readable.
>
> Something like this:
>
> git-describe: Changed subject from commit to tag in the first
>              sentence, clarified what the number of commits is
>              referring to, and pointed out which object is
>              referenced by the suffixed object name.

Sure, you could say that, but I think that just "git-describe: Make description more readable" is enough.

-Kevin Ballard
-- 
Kevin Ballard
http://kevin.sb.org
kevin@sb.org
http://www.tildesoft.com

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