Subject: [PATCH] doc: `--date` in `git-commit` accepts approxidates

From: "Utku Gultopu via GitGitGadget" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2021 17:35:46 +0000

From: Utku Gultopu <[email-masked]>

Document the fact that the `--date` option in `git-commit` accepts any
date format that is accepted by the `approxidate_careful` function,
which is located in `date.c`.

Signed-off-by: Utku Gultopu <[email-masked]>
---
    doc: --date in git-commit accepts approxidates
    
    Without the documentation, it is kind of a "hidden feature", which I was
    able to discover only through online forums.
    
    I guess this patch is not ideal, because instead of properly
    documenting, it refers the user to the code. However I wasn't able to
    find documentation about the "approxidates" which I can link to. Please
    let me know how I can improve it.

Published-As: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/releases/tag/pr-git-969%2Fugultopu%2Fdocument-approxidates-for-date-argument-v1
Fetch-It-Via: git fetch https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git pr-git-969/ugultopu/document-approxidates-for-date-argument-v1
Pull-Request: https://github.com/git/git/pull/969

 Documentation/date-formats.txt | 9 +++------
 Documentation/git-commit.txt   | 4 +++-
 2 files changed, 6 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/date-formats.txt b/Documentation/date-formats.txt
index f1097fac69a6..8332f592e252 100644
--- a/Documentation/date-formats.txt
+++ b/Documentation/date-formats.txt
@@ -1,10 +1,7 @@
-DATE FORMATS
-------------
+DATE FORMATS[[DATES]]
+---------------------
 
-The `GIT_AUTHOR_DATE`, `GIT_COMMITTER_DATE` environment variables
-ifdef::git-commit[]
-and the `--date` option
-endif::git-commit[]
+The `GIT_AUTHOR_DATE` and `GIT_COMMITTER_DATE` environment variables
 support the following date formats:
 
 Git internal format::
diff --git a/Documentation/git-commit.txt b/Documentation/git-commit.txt
index 17150fa7eabe..b96b7715a0a8 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-commit.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-commit.txt
@@ -143,7 +143,9 @@ OPTIONS
 	the commit author is then copied from the first such commit found.
 
 --date=<date>::
-	Override the author date used in the commit.
+	Override the author date used in the commit. The '<date>' can be in
+	any format that is accepted by the `approxidate_careful` function
+	in `date.c` or the <<DATES, DATE FORMATS>> section below.
 
 -m <msg>::
 --message=<msg>::

base-commit: 966e671106b2fd38301e7c344c754fd118d0bb07
-- 
gitgitgadget