threads / patch / 51853

patch, 2 partsdiff, log doc: say "patch text" instead of "patches"

Subject: [PATCH 1/2] diff, log doc: say "patch text" instead of "patches"

## tl;dr

6 messages between Sep 15, 2019 and Sep 17, 2019. Diffs are folded; open one to read it.

replies: 5people: 3as markdown or json

Johannes Sixt· Sep 15, 2019, 16:55 UTC · lore

A poster on Stackoverflow was confused that the documentation of git-log promised to generate "patches" or "patch files" with -p, but there were none to be found. Rewrite the corresponding paragraph to talk about "patch text" to avoid the confusion.

Shorten the language to say "X does Y" in place of "X does not Z, but Y".
Cross-reference the referred-to commands like the rest of the file does.

Mention porcelain commands before plumbing commands because I guess that the paragraph is read more frequently in their context.

Signed-off-by: Johannes Sixt <j6t@kdbg.org>
---
 I do not have the toolchain to check that a correct result is produced.
 Documentation/diff-generate-patch.txt | 17 +++++++++--------
 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)
Show changes to Documentation/diff-generate-patch.txt +9 −7
diff --git a/Documentation/diff-generate-patch.txt b/Documentation/diff-generate-patch.txt
index f10ca410ad..c6bbb2ac22 100644
--- a/Documentation/diff-generate-patch.txt
+++ b/Documentation/diff-generate-patch.txt
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
-Generating patches with -p
---------------------------
-
-When "git-diff-index", "git-diff-tree", or "git-diff-files" are run
-with a `-p` option, "git diff" without the `--raw` option, or
-"git log" with the "-p" option, they
-do not produce the output described above; instead they produce a
-patch file.  You can customize the creation of such patches via the
+Generating patch text with -p
+-----------------------------
+
+Running
+linkgit:git-diff[1] without the `--raw` option,
+or linkgit:git-log[1], linkgit:git-diff-index[1], linkgit:git-diff-tree[1],
+or linkgit:git-diff-files[1] with the `-p` option
+produces patch text instead of the usual output.
+You can customize the creation of patch text via the
 `GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF` and the `GIT_DIFF_OPTS` environment variables.
 
 What the -p option produces is slightly different from the traditional

-- 
2.23.0.93.g91d3f15def
Johannes Sixt· Sep 15, 2019, 16:57 UTC · re: Johannes Sixt · lore

[PATCH 2/2] diff, log doc: small grammer, format, and language fixes

- Replace "SHA-1" by "object name", the modern name for hashes.
- Correct a few grammar weaknesses.
- Do not accidentally format a phrase in teletype font where quotes are
  intended.
Signed-off-by: Johannes Sixt <j6t@kdbg.org>
---
 I do not have the toolchain to check that a correct result is produced.
 Documentation/diff-generate-patch.txt | 12 ++++++------
 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)
Show changes to Documentation/diff-generate-patch.txt +6 −6
diff --git a/Documentation/diff-generate-patch.txt b/Documentation/diff-generate-patch.txt
index c6bbb2ac22..ece1a2b66e 100644
--- a/Documentation/diff-generate-patch.txt
+++ b/Documentation/diff-generate-patch.txt
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ similarity index value of 100% is thus reserved for two equal
 files, while 100% dissimilarity means that no line from the old
 file made it into the new one.
 +
-The index line includes the SHA-1 checksum before and after the change.
+The index line includes the blob object names before and after the change.
 The <mode> is included if the file mode does not change; otherwise,
 separate lines indicate the old and the new mode.
 
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ separate lines indicate the old and the new mode.
       rename to a
 
 
-combined diff format
+Combined diff format
 --------------------
 
 Any diff-generating command can take the `-c` or `--cc` option to
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ linkgit:git-show[1]. Note also that you can give the `-m` option to any
 of these commands to force generation of diffs with individual parents
 of a merge.
 
-A 'combined diff' format looks like this:
+A "combined diff" format looks like this:
 
 ------------
 diff --combined describe.c
@@ -114,11 +114,11 @@ index fabadb8,cc95eb0..4866510
 ------------
 
 1.   It is preceded with a "git diff" header, that looks like
-     this (when `-c` option is used):
+     this (when the `-c` option is used):
 
        diff --combined file
 +
-or like this (when `--cc` option is used):
+or like this (when the `--cc` option is used):
 
        diff --cc file
 
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ parents.
 4.   Chunk header format is modified to prevent people from
      accidentally feeding it to `patch -p1`. Combined diff format
      was created for review of merge commit changes, and was not
-     meant for apply. The change is similar to the change in the
+     meant to be applied. The change is similar to the change in the
      extended 'index' header:
 
        @@@ <from-file-range> <from-file-range> <to-file-range> @@@

-- 
2.23.0.93.g91d3f15def
Martin Ågren· Sep 16, 2019, 17:19 UTC · re: Johannes Sixt · lore

Re: [PATCH 1/2] diff, log doc: say "patch text" instead of "patches"

On Sun, 15 Sep 2019 at 21:26, Johannes Sixt <j6t@kdbg.org> wrote:
>  I do not have the toolchain to check that a correct result is produced.

But I do. I've tested this patch and 2/2 with AsciiDoc 8.6.10 and Asciidoctor 1.5.5, as well as with Asciidoctor 2.0.10 (on top of brian's recent patch so that it builds to begin with). They all render this nicely.

Both of these patches seem like good changes to me.
Martin
Junio C Hamano· Sep 16, 2019, 19:58 UTC · re: Martin Ågren · lore

Re: [PATCH 1/2] diff, log doc: say "patch text" instead of "patches"

Martin Ågren <martin.agren@gmail.com> writes:
Show 9 quoted lines
> On Sun, 15 Sep 2019 at 21:26, Johannes Sixt <j6t@kdbg.org> wrote:
>>  I do not have the toolchain to check that a correct result is produced.
>
> But I do. I've tested this patch and 2/2 with AsciiDoc 8.6.10 and
> Asciidoctor 1.5.5, as well as with Asciidoctor 2.0.10 (on top of brian's
> recent patch so that it builds to begin with). They all render this
> nicely.
>
> Both of these patches seem like good changes to me.

Thanks, both. I am neutral between "patch" and "patch text", but if the latter is more easily understood by readers, that would be great. "patch *file*" certainly does sound misleading.

I wonder if the result becomes even clearer if we dropped "instead of the usual output". It is a given that presence of an option would change the behaviour, so "instead of the usual" does not add any value in the context of the explanation we are giving.

Also I question the value of the "running git diff without --raw option" sentence; "diff --stat" is also a way to suppress the patch text and see only the overview; I know it is not a new problem this patch introduces, but the objective of this patch is clarify about the generation of output in patch format, so...

Johannes Sixt· Sep 16, 2019, 20:46 UTC · re: Junio C Hamano · lore

[PATCH v2 1/2] diff, log doc: say "patch text" instead of "patches"

Am 16.09.19 um 21:58 schrieb Junio C Hamano:
> I wonder if the result becomes even clearer if we dropped "instead
> of the usual output".  It is a given that presence of an option
> would change the behaviour, so "instead of the usual" does not add
> any value in the context of the explanation we are giving.
Agreed.
Show 5 quoted lines
> Also I question the value of the "running git diff without --raw
> option" sentence; "diff --stat" is also a way to suppress the patch
> text and see only the overview; I know it is not a new problem this
> patch introduces, but the objective of this patch is clarify about
> the generation of output in patch format, so...
You have a point here, too.

Below is v2 of just patch 1/2. 2/2 remains unchanged. I've added git-show to the enumeration.

--- 8< --- diff, log doc: say "patch text" instead of "patches"

A poster on Stackoverflow was confused that the documentation of git-log promised to generate "patches" or "patch files" with -p, but there were none to be found. Rewrite the corresponding paragraph to talk about "patch text" to avoid the confusion.

Shorten the language to say "X does Y" in place of "X does not Z, but Y".
Cross-reference the referred-to commands like the rest of the file does.
Enumerate git-show because it includes the description as well.

Mention porcelain commands before plumbing commands because I guess that the paragraph is read more frequently in their context.

Signed-off-by: Johannes Sixt <j6t@kdbg.org>
---
 Documentation/diff-generate-patch.txt | 20 ++++++++++++--------
 1 file changed, 12 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)
Show changes to Documentation/diff-generate-patch.txt +12 −7
diff --git a/Documentation/diff-generate-patch.txt b/Documentation/diff-generate-patch.txt
index f10ca410ad..c482c94e6b 100644
--- a/Documentation/diff-generate-patch.txt
+++ b/Documentation/diff-generate-patch.txt
@@ -1,11 +1,15 @@
-Generating patches with -p
---------------------------
-
-When "git-diff-index", "git-diff-tree", or "git-diff-files" are run
-with a `-p` option, "git diff" without the `--raw` option, or
-"git log" with the "-p" option, they
-do not produce the output described above; instead they produce a
-patch file.  You can customize the creation of such patches via the
+Generating patch text with -p
+-----------------------------
+
+Running
+linkgit:git-diff[1],
+linkgit:git-log[1],
+linkgit:git-show[1],
+linkgit:git-diff-index[1],
+linkgit:git-diff-tree[1], or
+linkgit:git-diff-files[1]
+with the `-p` option produces patch text.
+You can customize the creation of patch text via the
 `GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF` and the `GIT_DIFF_OPTS` environment variables.
 
 What the -p option produces is slightly different from the traditional

-- 
2.23.0.95.gcfbaf7d16f
Martin Ågren· Sep 17, 2019, 18:40 UTC · re: Johannes Sixt · lore

Re: [PATCH v2 1/2] diff, log doc: say "patch text" instead of "patches"

On Mon, 16 Sep 2019 at 22:46, Johannes Sixt <j6t@kdbg.org> wrote:
Show 19 quoted lines
>
> Am 16.09.19 um 21:58 schrieb Junio C Hamano:
> > I wonder if the result becomes even clearer if we dropped "instead
> > of the usual output".  It is a given that presence of an option
> > would change the behaviour, so "instead of the usual" does not add
> > any value in the context of the explanation we are giving.
>
> Agreed.
>
> > Also I question the value of the "running git diff without --raw
> > option" sentence; "diff --stat" is also a way to suppress the patch
> > text and see only the overview; I know it is not a new problem this
> > patch introduces, but the objective of this patch is clarify about
> > the generation of output in patch format, so...
>
> You have a point here, too.
>
> Below is v2 of just patch 1/2. 2/2 remains unchanged. I've added
> git-show to the enumeration.
Yeah, this makes sense. Tested -- this renders fine.
Martin

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