[PATCH] Fix wrong info in `INSTALL`

[PATCH] Fix wrong info in `INSTALL`

[Shao-Ce SUN via GitGitGadget]

From: Shao-Ce SUN <sunshaoce@iscas.ac.cn>

The user prompt should be `$` instead of `#`.

Signed-off-by: Shao-Ce SUN <sunshaoce@iscas.ac.cn>
---
    Fix wrong info in INSTALL
    
    The user prompt should be $ instead of #.

Published-As: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/releases/tag/pr-1241%2Fsunshaoce%2Finstall-v1
Fetch-It-Via: git fetch https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git pr-1241/sunshaoce/install-v1
Pull-Request: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/pull/1241

 INSTALL | 12 ++++++------
 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL
index 4140a3f5c8b..7bb3f48311d 100644
--- a/INSTALL
+++ b/INSTALL
@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@ Normally you can just do "make" followed by "make install", and that
 will install the git programs in your own ~/bin/ directory.  If you want
 to do a global install, you can do
 
-	$ make prefix=/usr all doc info ;# as yourself
-	# make prefix=/usr install install-doc install-html install-info ;# as root
+	$ make prefix=/usr all doc info ; $ as yourself
+	# make prefix=/usr install install-doc install-html install-info ; # as root
 
 (or prefix=/usr/local, of course).  Just like any program suite
 that uses $prefix, the built results have some paths encoded,
@@ -20,10 +20,10 @@ config.mak file.
 Alternatively you can use autoconf generated ./configure script to
 set up install paths (via config.mak.autogen), so you can write instead
 
-	$ make configure ;# as yourself
-	$ ./configure --prefix=/usr ;# as yourself
-	$ make all doc ;# as yourself
-	# make install install-doc install-html;# as root
+	$ make configure ; $ as yourself
+	$ ./configure --prefix=/usr ; $ as yourself
+	$ make all doc ; $ as yourself
+	# make install install-doc install-html; # as root
 
 If you're willing to trade off (much) longer build time for a later
 faster git you can also do a profile feedback build with

base-commit: 7a3eb286977746bc09a5de7682df0e5a7085e17c
-- 
gitgitgadget

Re: [PATCH] Fix wrong info in `INSTALL`

[Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason]

On Tue, May 24 2022, Shao-Ce SUN via GitGitGadget wrote:

> From: Shao-Ce SUN <sunshaoce@iscas.ac.cn>
>
> The user prompt should be `$` instead of `#`.
>
> Signed-off-by: Shao-Ce SUN <sunshaoce@iscas.ac.cn>
> ---
>     Fix wrong info in INSTALL
>     
>     The user prompt should be $ instead of #.
>
> Published-As: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/releases/tag/pr-1241%2Fsunshaoce%2Finstall-v1
> Fetch-It-Via: git fetch https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git pr-1241/sunshaoce/install-v1
> Pull-Request: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/pull/1241
>
>  INSTALL | 12 ++++++------
>  1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL
> index 4140a3f5c8b..7bb3f48311d 100644
> --- a/INSTALL
> +++ b/INSTALL
> @@ -5,8 +5,8 @@ Normally you can just do "make" followed by "make install", and that
>  will install the git programs in your own ~/bin/ directory.  If you want
>  to do a global install, you can do
>  
> -	$ make prefix=/usr all doc info ;# as yourself
> -	# make prefix=/usr install install-doc install-html install-info ;# as root
> +	$ make prefix=/usr all doc info ; $ as yourself
> +	# make prefix=/usr install install-doc install-html install-info ; # as root
>  
>  (or prefix=/usr/local, of course).  Just like any program suite
>  that uses $prefix, the built results have some paths encoded,
> @@ -20,10 +20,10 @@ config.mak file.
>  Alternatively you can use autoconf generated ./configure script to
>  set up install paths (via config.mak.autogen), so you can write instead
>  
> -	$ make configure ;# as yourself
> -	$ ./configure --prefix=/usr ;# as yourself
> -	$ make all doc ;# as yourself
> -	# make install install-doc install-html;# as root
> +	$ make configure ; $ as yourself
> +	$ ./configure --prefix=/usr ; $ as yourself
> +	$ make all doc ; $ as yourself
> +	# make install install-doc install-html; # as root
>  
>  If you're willing to trade off (much) longer build time for a later
>  faster git you can also do a profile feedback build with
>
> base-commit: 7a3eb286977746bc09a5de7682df0e5a7085e17c

This looks good to me, FWIW I dug into this slightly and didn't know
that POSIX had this to say about it:

        This variable is used for interactive prompts. Historically, the
        "superuser" has had a prompt of '#'. Since privileges are not
        required to be monolithic, it is difficult to define which
        privileges should cause the alternate prompt. However, a
        sufficiently powerful user should be reminded of that power by
        having an alternate prompt.

See https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/xrat/V4_xcu_chap02.html#tag_23_02_05_03

The one suggestion I have here is that the $subject should be clearer, e.g.:

    INSTALL: use '#', not '$' for root-run command prompt

Which in this case would both be better in --oneline output, and be
enough to get rid of the commit message body entirely (unless it wished
to say something more on the subject).

Re: [PATCH] Fix wrong info in `INSTALL`

[Philippe Blain]

Hi Shao-Ce,

Le 2022-05-24 à 17:39, Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason a écrit :
> 
> On Tue, May 24 2022, Shao-Ce SUN via GitGitGadget wrote:
> 
>> From: Shao-Ce SUN <sunshaoce@iscas.ac.cn>
>>
>> The user prompt should be `$` instead of `#`.
>>
>> Signed-off-by: Shao-Ce SUN <sunshaoce@iscas.ac.cn>
>> ---
>>     Fix wrong info in INSTALL
>>     
>>     The user prompt should be $ instead of #.
>>
>> Published-As: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/releases/tag/pr-1241%2Fsunshaoce%2Finstall-v1
>> Fetch-It-Via: git fetch https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git pr-1241/sunshaoce/install-v1
>> Pull-Request: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/pull/1241
>>
>>  INSTALL | 12 ++++++------
>>  1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)
>>
>> diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL
>> index 4140a3f5c8b..7bb3f48311d 100644
>> --- a/INSTALL
>> +++ b/INSTALL
>> @@ -5,8 +5,8 @@ Normally you can just do "make" followed by "make install", and that
>>  will install the git programs in your own ~/bin/ directory.  If you want
>>  to do a global install, you can do
>>  
>> -	$ make prefix=/usr all doc info ;# as yourself
>> -	# make prefix=/usr install install-doc install-html install-info ;# as root
>> +	$ make prefix=/usr all doc info ; $ as yourself
>> +	# make prefix=/usr install install-doc install-html install-info ; # as root

The prompt for the first invocation is already '$',
what you are changing in the first line is the '# as yourself' comment
which is a shell comment and thus uses '#'. This allows 
the whole line to be pasted as-is.

The second line is supposed to be ran as root and already has '#' as
prompt, and also has '# as root' as a comment, which you simply
prefix with a space.

I don't think there is anything to "fix" here...

>>  
>>  (or prefix=/usr/local, of course).  Just like any program suite
>>  that uses $prefix, the built results have some paths encoded,
>> @@ -20,10 +20,10 @@ config.mak file.
>>  Alternatively you can use autoconf generated ./configure script to
>>  set up install paths (via config.mak.autogen), so you can write instead
>>  
>> -	$ make configure ;# as yourself
>> -	$ ./configure --prefix=/usr ;# as yourself
>> -	$ make all doc ;# as yourself
>> -	# make install install-doc install-html;# as root
>> +	$ make configure ; $ as yourself
>> +	$ ./configure --prefix=/usr ; $ as yourself
>> +	$ make all doc ; $ as yourself
>> +	# make install install-doc install-html; # as root

Same here.

Re: [PATCH] Fix wrong info in `INSTALL`

[Junio C Hamano]

"Shao-Ce SUN via GitGitGadget" <gitgitgadget@gmail.com> writes:

> -	$ make prefix=/usr all doc info ;# as yourself
> -	# make prefix=/usr install install-doc install-html install-info ;# as root
> +	$ make prefix=/usr all doc info ; $ as yourself

This and all the changes in the patch is wrong, but it is not
entirely your fault.  You need to know the shell syntax.

The semicolon in ";#" is an end of one command (i.e. "make"), and
the hash is "start of comment--ignore the rest of the line.

If you replace # with $, then "$ as yourself" would be fed to the
shell because $ is not a comment introducer.  The command line no
longer can be copied and pasted, starting from "make" to the end of
the line.

Thanks.

Re: [PATCH] Fix wrong info in `INSTALL`

[Christian Couder]

On Wed, May 25, 2022 at 6:35 AM Shao-Ce SUN via GitGitGadget
<gitgitgadget@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> From: Shao-Ce SUN <sunshaoce@iscas.ac.cn>
>
> The user prompt should be `$` instead of `#`.

On the following lines:

$ make prefix=/usr all doc info ;# as yourself
# make prefix=/usr install install-doc install-html install-info ;# as root

the '$' or '#' before "make" is indeed a prompt, but the '#' before
"as" starts a single line comment. So there is no need to change it
into a '$'.

See for example:

https://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/abs-guide.html#SPECIAL-CHARS

One issue with the above lines could be that there is no space
character before the '#' that starts the comments. The ';' is a
command separator character though, and I think that when a new
command starts with '#' it's considered a comment.

So we could perhaps get rid of the ';', but on the other hand ";#"
should make it extra clear that the command before it ended and that
the rest of the line is a comment.

> Signed-off-by: Shao-Ce SUN <sunshaoce@iscas.ac.cn>
> ---
>     Fix wrong info in INSTALL

Instead of "info" you could say something more specific like "prompt character".

Also we start commit subjects with the area of the code, so maybe
"INSTALL: fix wrong prompt character".

> diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL
> index 4140a3f5c8b..7bb3f48311d 100644
> --- a/INSTALL
> +++ b/INSTALL
> @@ -5,8 +5,8 @@ Normally you can just do "make" followed by "make install", and that
>  will install the git programs in your own ~/bin/ directory.  If you want
>  to do a global install, you can do
>
> -       $ make prefix=/usr all doc info ;# as yourself
> -       # make prefix=/usr install install-doc install-html install-info ;# as root
> +       $ make prefix=/usr all doc info ; $ as yourself

Here a '#' is changed into a '$' but also a space character is
inserted before the '$' without any explanation.

> +       # make prefix=/usr install install-doc install-html install-info ; # as root

Here only a space character is inserted before the second '#' without
any explanation.

Re: [PATCH] Fix wrong info in `INSTALL`

[Junio C Hamano]

Christian Couder <christian.couder@gmail.com> writes:

> So we could perhaps get rid of the ';', but on the other hand ";#"
> should make it extra clear that the command before it ended and that
> the rest of the line is a comment.

True.  In modern shells, ";" in the ";#" sequence may not be
necessary, but consistently writing ";#" as if it were a single
token would probably be a good idea in the documentation.

Of course, if we can declare that the usefulness of the monospace
plain text document does not matter, we could do without ";#" and
typeset the comment (and the prompt) in different font and/or color.
It would make it easier to see which part of the line is what is to
be typed verbatim.

Thanks.