Subject: Re: [PATCH] repo: show subcommand-specific help text

From: Patrick Steinhardt <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 24 Mar 2026 07:26:23 +0100

On Mon, Mar 23, 2026 at 04:29:37PM +0100, Mahi Kassa wrote:
> diff --git a/builtin/repo.c b/builtin/repo.c
> index 55f9b9095c..5ccc5c401a 100644
> --- a/builtin/repo.c
> +++ b/builtin/repo.c
> @@ -27,6 +27,17 @@ static const char *const repo_usage[] = {
>  	NULL
>  };
>  
> +static const char *const repo_info_usage[] = {
> +	"git repo info [--format=(lines|nul) | -z] [--all | <key>...]",
> +	"git repo info --keys [--format=(lines|nul) | -z]",
> +	NULL
> +};
> +
> +static const char *const repo_structure_usage[] = {
> +	"git repo structure [--format=(table|lines|nul) | -z]",
> +	NULL
> +};
> +
>  typedef int get_value_fn(struct repository *repo, struct strbuf *buf);
>  
>  enum output_format {

These are basically the split-out parts of `repo_usage`, which makes
sense. But it also means that it will be quite easy for those two usages
to diverge over time. Would it make sense to maybe split the individual
usage strings into macros that we can reuse? Something like the below
(partial) patch.

Thanks!

Patrick

diff --git a/builtin/repo.c b/builtin/repo.c
index 55f9b9095c..200c5901a7 100644
--- a/builtin/repo.c
+++ b/builtin/repo.c
@@ -20,11 +20,22 @@
 #include "tree-walk.h"
 #include "utf8.h"
 
+#define REPO_INFO_USAGE \
+	"git repo info [--format=(lines|nul) | -z] [--all | <key>...]", \
+	"git repo info --keys [--format=(lines|nul) | -z]"
+
+#define REPO_STRUCTURE_USAGE \
+	"git repo structure [--format=(table|lines|nul) | -z]"
+
 static const char *const repo_usage[] = {
-	"git repo info [--format=(lines|nul) | -z] [--all | <key>...]",
-	"git repo info --keys [--format=(lines|nul) | -z]",
-	"git repo structure [--format=(table|lines|nul) | -z]",
-	NULL
+	REPO_INFO_USAGE,
+	REPO_STRUCTURE_USAGE,
+	NULL,
+};
+
+static const char *const repo_info_usage[] = {
+	REPO_INFO_USAGE,
+	NULL,
 };
 
 typedef int get_value_fn(struct repository *repo, struct strbuf *buf);
@@ -214,7 +225,7 @@ static int cmd_repo_info(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix,
 		OPT_END()
 	};
 
-	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, prefix, options, repo_usage, 0);
+	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, prefix, options, repo_info_usage, 0);
 
 	if (show_keys && (all_keys || argc))
 		die(_("--keys cannot be used with a <key> or --all"));