[PATCH] doc: remove explanation of "--" from man pages

[PATCH] doc: remove explanation of "--" from man pages

[Robert P. J. Day]

"man gitcli" already explains the purpose of the "--" syntax, so there
is no value to a small subset of Git commands explaining that in their
man pages.

Signed-off-by: Robert P. J. Day <rpjday@crashcourse.ca>

---

  i tried this once before, and i'm going to try to push it through
again ... it's pointless and inconsistent for less than a dozen man
pages to explicitly explain the purpose of "--" unless all of the man
pages do. as long as the "--" appears in the command SYNOPSIS, that
should be more than adequate.

diff --git a/Documentation/git-add.txt b/Documentation/git-add.txt
index b700beaff..69d625285 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-add.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-add.txt
@@ -180,11 +180,6 @@ for "git add --no-all <pathspec>...", i.e. ignored removed files.
 	bit is only changed in the index, the files on disk are left
 	unchanged.

-\--::
-	This option can be used to separate command-line options from
-	the list of files, (useful when filenames might be mistaken
-	for command-line options).
-

 Configuration
 -------------
diff --git a/Documentation/git-check-attr.txt b/Documentation/git-check-attr.txt
index aa3b2bf2f..0ae2523e0 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-check-attr.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-check-attr.txt
@@ -36,10 +36,6 @@ OPTIONS
 	If `--stdin` is also given, input paths are separated
 	with a NUL character instead of a linefeed character.

-\--::
-	Interpret all preceding arguments as attributes and all following
-	arguments as path names.
-
 If none of `--stdin`, `--all`, or `--` is used, the first argument
 will be treated as an attribute and the rest of the arguments as
 pathnames.
diff --git a/Documentation/git-checkout-index.txt b/Documentation/git-checkout-index.txt
index 4d33e7be0..11ee76e7d 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-checkout-index.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-checkout-index.txt
@@ -68,9 +68,6 @@ OPTIONS
 	Only meaningful with `--stdin`; paths are separated with
 	NUL character instead of LF.

-\--::
-	Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
-
 The order of the flags used to matter, but not anymore.

 Just doing `git checkout-index` does nothing. You probably meant
diff --git a/Documentation/git-commit.txt b/Documentation/git-commit.txt
index 8c74a2ca0..cd9f362d1 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-commit.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-commit.txt
@@ -334,9 +334,6 @@ changes to tracked files.
 	Countermand `commit.gpgSign` configuration variable that is
 	set to force each and every commit to be signed.

-\--::
-	Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
-
 <file>...::
 	When files are given on the command line, the command
 	commits the contents of the named files, without
diff --git a/Documentation/git-grep.txt b/Documentation/git-grep.txt
index 18b494731..bac0b789c 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-grep.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-grep.txt
@@ -282,10 +282,6 @@ providing this option will cause it to die.
 	Instead of searching tracked files in the working tree, search
 	blobs in the given trees.

-\--::
-	Signals the end of options; the rest of the parameters
-	are <pathspec> limiters.
-
 <pathspec>...::
 	If given, limit the search to paths matching at least one pattern.
 	Both leading paths match and glob(7) patterns are supported.
diff --git a/Documentation/git-ls-files.txt b/Documentation/git-ls-files.txt
index 3ac3e3a77..c5cf3a488 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-ls-files.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-ls-files.txt
@@ -176,9 +176,6 @@ Both the <eolinfo> in the index ("i/<eolinfo>")
 and in the working tree ("w/<eolinfo>") are shown for regular files,
 followed by the  ("attr/<eolattr>").

-\--::
-	Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
-
 <file>::
 	Files to show. If no files are given all files which match the other
 	specified criteria are shown.
diff --git a/Documentation/git-merge-index.txt b/Documentation/git-merge-index.txt
index 02676fb39..51f884c7e 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-merge-index.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-merge-index.txt
@@ -20,9 +20,6 @@ files are passed as arguments 5, 6 and 7.

 OPTIONS
 -------
-\--::
-	Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
-
 -a::
 	Run merge against all files in the index that need merging.

diff --git a/Documentation/git-prune.txt b/Documentation/git-prune.txt
index 7a493c80f..39caa247a 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-prune.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-prune.txt
@@ -42,9 +42,6 @@ OPTIONS
 --verbose::
 	Report all removed objects.

-\--::
-	Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
-
 --expire <time>::
 	Only expire loose objects older than <time>.

diff --git a/Documentation/git-rm.txt b/Documentation/git-rm.txt
index b5c46223c..67ea38e46 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-rm.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-rm.txt
@@ -50,11 +50,6 @@ OPTIONS
         Allow recursive removal when a leading directory name is
         given.

-\--::
-	This option can be used to separate command-line options from
-	the list of files, (useful when filenames might be mistaken
-	for command-line options).
-
 --cached::
 	Use this option to unstage and remove paths only from the index.
 	Working tree files, whether modified or not, will be
diff --git a/Documentation/git-update-index.txt b/Documentation/git-update-index.txt
index bdb034259..7d67704a9 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-update-index.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-update-index.txt
@@ -218,9 +218,6 @@ will remove the intended effect of the option.
 	the configured value will take effect next time the index is
 	read and this will remove the intended effect of the option.

-\--::
-	Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
-
 <file>::
 	Files to act on.
 	Note that files beginning with '.' are discarded. This includes
diff --git a/Documentation/git-verify-pack.txt b/Documentation/git-verify-pack.txt
index 61ca6d04c..b546c2192 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-verify-pack.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-verify-pack.txt
@@ -33,9 +33,6 @@ OPTIONS
 	Do not verify the pack contents; only show the histogram of delta
 	chain length.  With `--verbose`, list of objects is also shown.

-\--::
-	Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
-
 OUTPUT FORMAT
 -------------
 When specifying the -v option the format used is:

-- 

========================================================================
Robert P. J. Day                                 Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA
                        http://crashcourse.ca

Twitter:                                       http://twitter.com/rpjday
LinkedIn:                               http://ca.linkedin.com/in/rpjday
========================================================================

Re: [PATCH] doc: remove explanation of "--" from man pages

[Kevin Daudt]

On Tue, Nov 21, 2017 at 04:12:02PM -0500, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> "man gitcli" already explains the purpose of the "--" syntax, so there
> is no value to a small subset of Git commands explaining that in their
> man pages.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Robert P. J. Day <rpjday@crashcourse.ca>
> 
> ---
> 
>   i tried this once before, and i'm going to try to push it through
> again ... it's pointless and inconsistent for less than a dozen man
> pages to explicitly explain the purpose of "--" unless all of the man
> pages do. as long as the "--" appears in the command SYNOPSIS, that
> should be more than adequate.

Although I agree that common options don't need to be explained
everytime again, this change might make '--' even more obscure. To be
honest, I didn't even know about gitcli(7), let alone most new users.

In the #git irc channel we often have to explain what '--' means and
why it's sometimes necessary.

I don't however know a better solution to it more clear.

Kevin

Re: [PATCH] doc: remove explanation of "--" from man pages

[Junio C Hamano]

Kevin Daudt <me@ikke.info> writes:

> Although I agree that common options don't need to be explained
> everytime again, this change might make '--' even more obscure. To be
> honest, I didn't even know about gitcli(7), let alone most new users.
>
> In the #git irc channel we often have to explain what '--' means and
> why it's sometimes necessary.
>
> I don't however know a better solution to it more clear.

I do not agree with the starting thought of this patch in the first
place.  With the same logic, "git help" showing the most commonly
used subcommands, as "git help -a" has all the information, is
redundant and unwanted.  So is the synopsis section and "git $cmd
-h" that shows only commonly used options but not necessarily all of
them.

There may be some git-$foo manual page that do not describe how '--'
would be useful for the specific $foo subcommand that would become
more helpful to new readers if they did, and I think updating them
would be a better approach if we wanted to have consistency across
manual pages.