From: "Julia Evans" <julia@jvns•ca>
To: "Junio C Hamano" <gitster@pobox•com>,
"Julia Evans" <gitgitgadget@gmail•com>
Cc: git@vger•kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/5] doc: git-add: remove options from SYNOPSIS
Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2025 12:58:50 -0400 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <d027b0cc-a2b0-4b73-b7e0-410fc559fd51@app.fastmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <xmqqms84s276.fsf@gitster.g>
Thanks for the comments. I think for now I'll just remove this patch
from the series since I don't see a clear way forward and I think it'll
make it easier to focus on the other changes.
> Note that in general this is not necessarily a good idea, when a
> command works in different modes (like "git branch" that can
> list/enumerate or create/delete/manipulate), as not all the options
> can be used in all the modes the command supports.
I've been thinking about that as well: I have some ideas I've been working on
for how to clarify the usage of different "modes" of a command by giving the
modes names, will share those when I get to a command with modes.
> Except that you have to scan a lot of text, which is quite
> inefficient when you *know* the general idea behind the option you
> want to use, and are only looking for the exact spelling of it (e.g.
> "was it spelled --ignore-removed?")
That's fair. Something that I hadn't considered is that how easy the OPTIONS
section is to scan depends on how the man page is formatted: some man
page viewers will bold the options (which I think makes them easier to scan),
but some won't.
> While it is important to make it easier for new readers to learn, we
> should also keep in mind that nobody remains to be a newbie forever.
> Have you considered folding lines and
> simplifying "[--long | -s]" into "[-s]" and see if it makes easier
> to follow? Documentation/git-commit.adoc may serve as a better
> model.
Hmm, here's what it looks like with the long options removed.
To me it doesn't feel like a big enough improvement, and it's harder
to tell what some of the short options (like `-n`) mean.
git add [-p] [-v] [-n] [-f] [-i] [-e] [-A | --no-all | -u]
[--sparse] [--intent-to-add | -N] [--refresh] [--ignore-errors]
[--ignore-missing] [--renormalize] [--chmod=(+|-)x]
[--pathspec-from-file=<file> [--pathspec-file-nul]]
[--] [<pathspec>...]
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2025-08-13 16:59 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 59+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2025-08-12 20:07 [PATCH 0/5] doc: git-add: clarify DESCRIPTION section Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-12 20:07 ` [PATCH 1/5] doc: git-add: remove options from SYNOPSIS Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-12 20:41 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-13 16:58 ` Julia Evans [this message]
2025-08-13 20:47 ` Jean-Noël AVILA
2025-08-12 20:07 ` [PATCH 2/5] doc: git-add: start man page with an example Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-12 21:01 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-12 21:40 ` Julia Evans
2025-08-12 22:12 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-12 22:45 ` Julia Evans
2025-08-13 17:22 ` D. Ben Knoble
2025-08-14 0:41 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-14 2:59 ` Julia Evans
2025-08-15 5:38 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-12 20:07 ` [PATCH 3/5] doc: git-add: simplify discussion of ignored files Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-13 17:24 ` D. Ben Knoble
2025-08-12 20:07 ` [PATCH 4/5] doc: git-add: make explanation less dry Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-12 20:07 ` [PATCH 5/5] doc: git-add: explain inconsistent terminology Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-12 20:51 ` Chris Torek
2025-08-12 21:36 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-12 21:43 ` Julia Evans
2025-08-13 23:20 ` [PATCH v2 0/4] doc: git-add: clarify DESCRIPTION section Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-13 23:20 ` [PATCH v2 1/4] doc: git-add: start man page with an example Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-15 0:38 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-15 13:34 ` Jean-Noël AVILA
2025-08-15 16:33 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-17 18:37 ` Jean-Noël AVILA
2025-08-19 20:01 ` Julia Evans
2025-08-13 23:20 ` [PATCH v2 2/4] doc: git-add: simplify discussion of ignored files Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-14 0:59 ` D. Ben Knoble
2025-08-14 22:10 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-13 23:20 ` [PATCH v2 3/4] doc: git-add: make explanation less dry Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-14 22:22 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-15 16:10 ` Julia Evans
2025-08-15 18:25 ` D. Ben Knoble
2025-08-15 20:01 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-16 14:15 ` D. Ben Knoble
2025-08-15 19:47 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-19 12:57 ` Julia Evans
2025-08-21 20:36 ` Jean-Noël AVILA
2025-08-13 23:20 ` [PATCH v2 4/4] doc: git-add: explain inconsistent terminology Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-14 22:49 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-19 20:09 ` Julia Evans
2025-08-19 20:46 ` [PATCH v3 0/3] doc: git-add: clarify DESCRIPTION section Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-19 20:46 ` [PATCH v3 1/3] Git 2.51 Junio C Hamano via GitGitGadget
2025-08-19 21:06 ` rsbecker
2025-08-19 21:37 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-19 21:44 ` D. Ben Knoble
2025-08-19 21:48 ` Julia Evans
2025-08-19 21:49 ` rsbecker
2025-08-19 20:46 ` [PATCH v3 2/3] doc: git-add: clarify intro & add an example Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-21 20:08 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-22 20:37 ` Julia Evans
2025-08-19 20:46 ` [PATCH v3 3/3] doc: git-add: simplify discussion of ignored files Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-21 20:09 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-29 11:55 ` [PATCH v4 0/2] doc: git-add: clarify DESCRIPTION section Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-29 11:55 ` [PATCH v4 1/2] doc: git-add: clarify intro & add an example Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-29 11:55 ` [PATCH v4 2/2] doc: git-add: simplify discussion of ignored files Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-29 17:11 ` [PATCH v4 0/2] doc: git-add: clarify DESCRIPTION section Junio C Hamano
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