Re: git push output goes into stderr

[Jeff King <peff@peff.net>]

On Thu, Sep 08, 2011 at 11:12:48AM +0530, Sitaram Chamarty wrote:

> > But with a program whose main function is to perform an action, like
> > "git push", I think there are really two ways to look at it:
> >
> >  1. There is no main output; any progress or status update is just
> >     diagnostic chat, and should go to stderr.
> >
> >  2. The main output is the status report; it goes to stdout, and
> >     progress updates go to stderr.
> 
> I always thought if you write stuff to stdout the remote client gets
> confused because it is executing to a defined protocol and suddenly
> sees unexpected input in the middle.
> 
> Bit if *you* are saying this (output random stuff to STDOUT) can
> happen if we want it to, clearly I was wrong...

For the remote side, yes, we have to be sure not to pollute stdout,
because that's where the protocol is going.. But the status table is
generated on the client side, so stdout is just connected to the user's
terminal there.

We already generate --porcelain status output from push on stdout (and
again, that makes sense to me philosophically, because the user is
asking push to generate the output). So it's clearly not a big deal.
It's just a matter of taste.

-Peff