Subject: [PATCH v4 1/4] last-modified: rewrite error message when more than one revision given

From: Toon Claes <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2026 15:33:01 +0100

When more than one revision is passed to the git-last-modified(1)
command, this error message was printed:

    error: last-modified can only operate on one tree at a time

Calling these a "tree" is technically not correct. git-last-modified(1)
expects revisions that peel to a commit.

Rephrase the error message to:

    error: last-modified can only operate on one revision at a time

While at it, ensure modify the test to ensure the correct error message
is printed.

Signed-off-by: Toon Claes <[email-masked]>
---
 builtin/last-modified.c  |  2 +-
 t/t8020-last-modified.sh | 11 ++++++-----
 2 files changed, 7 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/builtin/last-modified.c b/builtin/last-modified.c
index c80f0535f6..7d95244e3f 100644
--- a/builtin/last-modified.c
+++ b/builtin/last-modified.c
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ static int populate_paths_from_revs(struct last_modified *lm)
 			continue;
 
 		if (num_interesting++)
-			return error(_("last-modified can only operate on one tree at a time"));
+			return error(_("last-modified can only operate on one revision at a time"));
 
 		diff_tree_oid(lm->rev.repo->hash_algo->empty_tree,
 			      &obj->item->oid, "", &diffopt);
diff --git a/t/t8020-last-modified.sh b/t/t8020-last-modified.sh
index 50f4312f71..91901eed58 100755
--- a/t/t8020-last-modified.sh
+++ b/t/t8020-last-modified.sh
@@ -12,10 +12,6 @@ test_expect_success 'setup' '
 	test_commit 3 a/b/file
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'cannot run last-modified on two trees' '
-	test_must_fail git last-modified HEAD HEAD~1
-'
-
 check_last_modified() {
 	local indir= &&
 	while test $# != 0
@@ -230,9 +226,14 @@ test_expect_success 'last-modified merge undoes changes' '
 	EOF
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'cannot run last-modified on two revision' '
+	test_must_fail git last-modified HEAD HEAD~1 2>err &&
+	test_grep "last-modified can only operate on one revision at a time" err
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'last-modified complains about unknown arguments' '
 	test_must_fail git last-modified --foo 2>err &&
-	grep "unknown last-modified argument: --foo" err
+	test_grep "unknown last-modified argument: --foo" err
 '
 
 test_done

-- 
2.52.0