threads / discuss / 32597

Re: git send-email should not allow 'y' for in-reply-to

Subject: Re: git send-email should not allow 'y' for in-reply-to

## tl;dr

8 messages between Jan 11, 2013 and Jan 12, 2013.

replies: 7people: 5as markdown or json

Matt Seitz (matseitz)· Jan 11, 2013, 20:13 UTC · lore
"Jeff King" <peff@peff.net> wrote in message news:<20130111185417.GA12852@sigill.intra.peff.net>...
Show 9 quoted lines
> On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 10:43:39AM -0800, Hilco Wijbenga wrote:
> 
> 
> > How about "What Message-ID to use as In-Reply-To for the first email?"
> > or "Provide the Message-ID to use as In-Reply-To for the first
> > email:".
> 
> seem fine to me. Maybe somebody who has been confused by it can offer
> more. At any rate, patches welcome.
Suggestion: "Message-ID to use as In-Reply-To for the first email:".
Simple and unlikely to generate a "y" or "n" response.  Putting "Message-ID" first makes it more obvious what data is being asked for by this prompt.
Jeff King· Jan 11, 2013, 21:23 UTC · re: Matt Seitz (matseitz) · lore
On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 08:13:57PM +0000, Matt Seitz (matseitz) wrote:
Show 12 quoted lines
> > > How about "What Message-ID to use as In-Reply-To for the first email?"
> > > or "Provide the Message-ID to use as In-Reply-To for the first
> > > email:".
> > 
> > seem fine to me. Maybe somebody who has been confused by it can offer
> > more. At any rate, patches welcome.
> 
> Suggestion: "Message-ID to use as In-Reply-To for the first email:".
> 
> Simple and unlikely to generate a "y" or "n" response.  Putting
> "Message-ID" first makes it more obvious what data is being asked for
> by this prompt.
You'd think. But the existing message that has been causing problems is:
  Message-ID to be used as In-Reply-To for the first email?

which is more or less what you are proposing. I do think a colon rather than a question mark helps indicate that the response is not yes/no.

-Peff
Antoine Pelisse· Jan 11, 2013, 21:53 UTC · re: Jeff King · lore
On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 10:23 PM, Jeff King <peff@peff.net> wrote:
Show 21 quoted lines
> On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 08:13:57PM +0000, Matt Seitz (matseitz) wrote:
>
>> > > How about "What Message-ID to use as In-Reply-To for the first email?"
>> > > or "Provide the Message-ID to use as In-Reply-To for the first
>> > > email:".
>> >
>> > seem fine to me. Maybe somebody who has been confused by it can offer
>> > more. At any rate, patches welcome.
>>
>> Suggestion: "Message-ID to use as In-Reply-To for the first email:".
>>
>> Simple and unlikely to generate a "y" or "n" response.  Putting
>> "Message-ID" first makes it more obvious what data is being asked for
>> by this prompt.
>
> You'd think. But the existing message that has been causing problems is:
>
>   Message-ID to be used as In-Reply-To for the first email?
>
> which is more or less what you are proposing. I do think a colon rather
> than a question mark helps indicate that the response is not yes/no.
That is true.

I'm definitely not a wording person, but assuming people who make the mistake probably don't read the whole sentence out of laziness (that might be somehow extreme though ;), starting it with "what" makes it obvious at first sight that you can't answer yes/no. That is not true if the message starts with Message-ID .. which doesn't look like a question. Now it feels like you have agree or not.

Antoine,
Junio C Hamano· Jan 11, 2013, 22:18 UTC · re: Antoine Pelisse · lore
Antoine Pelisse <apelisse@gmail.com> writes:
Show 31 quoted lines
> On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 10:23 PM, Jeff King <peff@peff.net> wrote:
>> On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 08:13:57PM +0000, Matt Seitz (matseitz) wrote:
>>
>>> > > How about "What Message-ID to use as In-Reply-To for the first email?"
>>> > > or "Provide the Message-ID to use as In-Reply-To for the first
>>> > > email:".
>>> >
>>> > seem fine to me. Maybe somebody who has been confused by it can offer
>>> > more. At any rate, patches welcome.
>>>
>>> Suggestion: "Message-ID to use as In-Reply-To for the first email:".
>>>
>>> Simple and unlikely to generate a "y" or "n" response.  Putting
>>> "Message-ID" first makes it more obvious what data is being asked for
>>> by this prompt.
>>
>> You'd think. But the existing message that has been causing problems is:
>>
>>   Message-ID to be used as In-Reply-To for the first email?
>>
>> which is more or less what you are proposing. I do think a colon rather
>> than a question mark helps indicate that the response is not yes/no.
>
> That is true.
>
> I'm definitely not a wording person, but assuming people who make the
> mistake probably don't read the whole sentence out of laziness (that
> might be somehow extreme though ;), starting it with "what" makes it
> obvious at first sight that you can't answer yes/no.
> That is not true if the message starts with Message-ID .. which
> doesn't look like a question. Now it feels like you have agree or not.
The exchange, when you do not have a configuration, goes like this:
    $ git send-email 0001-filename-of-the-patch.patch
    0001-filename-of-the-patch.patch
    Who should the emails be sent to (if any)? junio
    Are you sure you want to use <junio> [y/N]? y
    Message-ID to be used as In-Reply-To for the first email (if any)? 
Why not do this instead?
    $ git send-email 0001-filename-of-the-patch.patch
    0001-filename-of-the-patch.patch
    Who should the emails be sent to (if any)? junio
    Are you sure you want to use <junio> [y/N]? y
    Is this a response to an existing message [y/N]? y
    What is the Message-ID of the message you are replying to?
Antoine Pelisse· Jan 11, 2013, 22:42 UTC · re: Junio C Hamano · lore
On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 11:18 PM, Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> wrote:
Show 15 quoted lines
> The exchange, when you do not have a configuration, goes like this:
>
>     $ git send-email 0001-filename-of-the-patch.patch
>     0001-filename-of-the-patch.patch
>     Who should the emails be sent to (if any)? junio
>     Are you sure you want to use <junio> [y/N]? y
>     Message-ID to be used as In-Reply-To for the first email (if any)?
>
> Why not do this instead?
>
>     $ git send-email 0001-filename-of-the-patch.patch
>     0001-filename-of-the-patch.patch
>     Who should the emails be sent to (if any)? junio
>     Are you sure you want to use <junio> [y/N]? y
>     Is this a response to an existing message [y/N]? y

I'm not sure about the extra question. If the user doesn't care, he will probably use the empty default, which will result in the same number of steps. If the user cares, he probably knows what he's doing and will give a sensible value.

>     What is the Message-ID of the message you are replying to?
I would simply go for:
  What Message-ID are you replying to (if any)?

If I don't know what to answer, I would definitely not say y/yes/n/no, but press enter directly.

Junio C Hamano· Jan 11, 2013, 23:54 UTC · re: Antoine Pelisse · lore
Antoine Pelisse <apelisse@gmail.com> writes:
Show 6 quoted lines
> I would simply go for:
>
>   What Message-ID are you replying to (if any)?
>
> If I don't know what to answer, I would definitely not say y/yes/n/no,
> but press enter directly.

Sounds sensible (even though technically you reply to a message that has that message ID, and not to a message ID ;-)).

Any better phrasing from others? If not, I'd say we adopt this text.

Thanks.
Ben Aveling· Jan 12, 2013, 01:02 UTC · re: Junio C Hamano · lore
On 12/01/2013 10:54 AM, Junio C Hamano wrote:
Show 13 quoted lines
> Antoine Pelisse <apelisse@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> I would simply go for:
>>
>>    What Message-ID are you replying to (if any)?
>>
>> If I don't know what to answer, I would definitely not say y/yes/n/no,
>> but press enter directly.
> Sounds sensible (even though technically you reply to a message
> that has that message ID, and not to a message ID ;-)).
>
> Any better phrasing from others?  If not, I'd say we adopt this
> text.

I guess it depends on how much we mind if people accidentally miss the message ID.

If we don't mind much, we could say something like:
   What Message-ID are you replying to [Default=None]?

If we are concerned that when a Message-ID exists, it should be provided, we could split to 2 questions:

   Are you replying to an existing Message [Y/n]?
And then, if the answer is Y,
   What Message-ID are you replying to?
Regards, Ben
Junio C Hamano· Jan 12, 2013, 02:56 UTC · re: Ben Aveling · lore
Ben Aveling <bena.001@optusnet.com.au> writes:
Show 31 quoted lines
> On 12/01/2013 10:54 AM, Junio C Hamano wrote:
>> Antoine Pelisse <apelisse@gmail.com> writes:
>>
>>> I would simply go for:
>>>
>>>    What Message-ID are you replying to (if any)?
>>>
>>> If I don't know what to answer, I would definitely not say y/yes/n/no,
>>> but press enter directly.
>> Sounds sensible (even though technically you reply to a message
>> that has that message ID, and not to a message ID ;-)).
>>
>> Any better phrasing from others?  If not, I'd say we adopt this
>> text.
>
> I guess it depends on how much we mind if people accidentally miss the
> message ID.
>
> If we don't mind much, we could say something like:
>
>   What Message-ID are you replying to [Default=None]?
>
>
> If we are concerned that when a Message-ID exists, it should be
> provided, we could split to 2 questions:
>
>   Are you replying to an existing Message [Y/n]?
>
> And then, if the answer is Y,
>
>   What Message-ID are you replying to?
Eewww.  Now we come back to full circles.

It sometimes helps to follow the in-reply-to chain to see what has already been said in the thread, I guess ;-)

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