# [1.8.0 RFD] Homogeneous use of short options 6 messages from 2011-02-14 to 2011-02-15. Participants: Michael J Gruber, Nguyen Thai Ngoc Duy, Jay Soffian, Junio C Hamano, Miles Bader. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/26496 ## Michael J Gruber, 2011-02-14 15:04 Subject: [1.8.0 RFD] Homogeneous use of short options Message-ID: <4D594460.1040206@drmicha.warpmail.net> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/4D594460.1040206%40drmicha.warpmail.net ``` Proposal: Make our use of short options more homogeneous. I have put together a list of options which are used by the "most common commands", using the output of "git --help-all": http://repo.or.cz/w/git/mjg.git/blob/options.txt (scroll down for the short options) This leaves out a few commands with different option parsing (diff, log, rebase, show) but indicates that we're doing a good job already. A few notable outliers: add -A: Why capital A? Compare commit -a etc. commit -n, fetch -n, merge -n: These are REALLY bad! Users should be able to rely on '-n' being '--dry-run' or at least being no-op to their repo, like clone/grep/tag -n. tag -v: This is not a real problem, but users have certain expections for "-f,-h,-n,-v" which we should break as rarely as possible. OTOH, what would "verbose" mean for tag? (NB: tag.txt is grossly wrong.) grep -?: This tries to be compatible with GNU grep, so it's a natural outlier. Risks: Users and scripts may obviously depend on the current options names. Migration plan: Introduce new options first (1.7.x) along with warnings in the release notes (optionally, make the commands output warnings). Then change the behavior in 1.8.0. TODO: Generate an option list for the other common commands. I'll also follow up with a little series fixing inconsistencies in the descriptions. ``` ## Nguyen Thai Ngoc Duy, 2011-02-14 15:19 Subject: Re: [1.8.0 RFD] Homogeneous use of short options Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/AANLkTikFEQTrt%2Bvw5tJ%2BprSB0Krb9VOZFg%2BWn0G_Movr%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: <4D594460.1040206@drmicha.warpmail.net> ``` On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 10:04 PM, Michael J Gruber wrote: > Proposal: > Make our use of short options more homogeneous. > > ... > > Risks: > Users and scripts may obviously depend on the current options names. > > Migration plan: > Introduce new options first (1.7.x) along with warnings in the release > notes (optionally, make the commands output warnings). Then change the > behavior in 1.8.0. Sometimes I think we could just add a new "root" name for total UI redesign. Say all commands starting with "gic" (or whatever name it is, "gt" may be even shorter) will have new/consistent behavior while "git" ones remain unchanged (or changed gradually and sloooowly). It happened with bazaar (baz vs bzr) long ago. -- Duy ``` ## Jay Soffian, 2011-02-14 19:03 Subject: Re: [1.8.0 RFD] Homogeneous use of short options Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/AANLkTi%3DPGwYz_GbYT3UR00UrhMi5KP_KU1y-%2Bg%2BQo1n9%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: <4D594460.1040206@drmicha.warpmail.net> ``` On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 10:04 AM, Michael J Gruber wrote: > tag -v: This is not a real problem, but users have certain expections > for "-f,-h,-n,-v" which we should break as rarely as possible. OTOH, > what would "verbose" mean for tag? (NB: tag.txt is grossly wrong.) I made mine look like branch -v: $ cat bin/git-tagv #!/bin/sh format=' case %(objecttype) in commit) sha1=%(objectname:short) subject=%(subject) ;; tag) sha1=%(*objectname:short) subject=%(*subject) ;; esac printf "%s\t%s\t%s\n" %(refname:short) "$sha1" "$subject" ' eval "$(git for-each-ref --shell --format="$format" refs/tags)" | column -t -s "$(printf '\t')" j. ``` ## Junio C Hamano, 2011-02-14 21:00 Subject: Re: [1.8.0 RFD] Homogeneous use of short options Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/AANLkTim1GUnyqkNbFPhkPEOitGG7PxsW1eeubkN69hf5%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: <4D594460.1040206@drmicha.warpmail.net> ``` On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 7:04 AM, Michael J Gruber wrote: > add -A: Why capital A? Compare commit -a etc. IIRC, this was in anticipation for a similar interface to include _new_ files in the commit in the form of "commit -A", which _is_ different from the existing "commit -a". ``` ## Miles Bader, 2011-02-15 00:52 Subject: Re: [1.8.0 RFD] Homogeneous use of short options Message-ID: <871v3a2k7i.fsf@catnip.gol.com> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/871v3a2k7i.fsf%40catnip.gol.com In-Reply-To: ``` Junio C Hamano writes: >> add -A: Why capital A? Compare commit -a etc. > > IIRC, this was in anticipation for a similar interface to include > _new_ files in the commit in the form of "commit -A", which _is_ > different from the existing "commit -a". I look up the meaning of "git commit -u": $ git commit --help ... -u[], --untracked-files[=] Show untracked files (Default: all). The mode parameter is optional, and is used to specify the handling of untracked files. The possible options are: · no - Show no untracked files · normal - Shows untracked files and directories · all - Also shows individual files in untracked directories. See git-config(1) for configuration variable used to change the default for when the option is not specified. I guess it means it only affects the status-display for --dry-run, but it seems a little confusing to not say that explicitly... -miles -- Cabbage, n. A familiar kitchen-garden vegetable about as large and wise as a man's head. ``` ## Michael J Gruber, 2011-02-15 07:18 Subject: Re: [1.8.0 RFD] Homogeneous use of short options Message-ID: <4D5A28C1.1080803@drmicha.warpmail.net> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/4D5A28C1.1080803%40drmicha.warpmail.net In-Reply-To: <871v3a2k7i.fsf@catnip.gol.com> ``` Miles Bader venit, vidit, dixit 15.02.2011 01:52: > Junio C Hamano writes: >>> add -A: Why capital A? Compare commit -a etc. >> >> IIRC, this was in anticipation for a similar interface to include >> _new_ files in the commit in the form of "commit -A", which _is_ >> different from the existing "commit -a". > > I look up the meaning of "git commit -u": > > $ git commit --help > ... > -u[], --untracked-files[=] > Show untracked files (Default: all). > > The mode parameter is optional, and is used to specify the handling > of untracked files. > > The possible options are: > > · no - Show no untracked files > · normal - Shows untracked files and directories > · all - Also shows individual files in untracked directories. > > See git-config(1) for configuration variable used to change the > default for when the option is not specified. > > I guess it means it only affects the status-display for --dry-run, but > it seems a little confusing to not say that explicitly... I think it is confusing only until you have used "commit" without "-m" for the first time - and only if you overlooked the 3 occurences of "show" ;) Michael ```