Re: [PATCH] Documentation: indent-with-non-tab uses tabwidth setting, not just 8

[Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>]

Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> writes:

>> @@ -559,8 +559,8 @@ core.whitespace::
>>  * `space-before-tab` treats a space character that appears immediately
>>    before a tab character in the initial indent part of the line as an
>>    error (enabled by default).
>> -* `indent-with-non-tab` treats a line that is indented with 8 or more
>> -  space characters as an error (not enabled by default).
>> +* `indent-with-non-tab` treats a line that is indented with `tabwidth` space
>> +  characters or more as an error (not enabled by default).
>
> I would rather see this part left untouched.
>
> Your new text will force people who are not interested in using
> non-standard tab width to read through the bulletted list, only to
> find "The default tab width is 8".  I think that is a regression in
> the documentation for more common readers.
>
> When somebody wants to use `indent-with-non-tab` and gets offended
> by the seemingly hardcoded "8" in the description, the reader has
> incentive to find out if there is a way to change that 8, and will
> find `tabwidth=<n>` in the same bulletted list described, with the
> effect it has on both `indent-with-non-tab` and `tab-in-indent`.
>
> I think that should be sufficient for people who do use non-standard
> tab width using tabwidth=<n>.

An alternative would be to lose the "8" (or `tabwidth`) from that
description.  I've always thought that the description of `tabwidth`
is clear enough that "8" in the patch is not a hardcoded non-overridable
value but is merely a default, but after reading that section a few
more times, I no longer think that is the case.

I originally wrote "8 or more space" but that wasn't because I
thought it was important to stress "8 is the default", but because I
didn't think of a better way to say what I wanted to say, which was
"if you are filling the indentation with spaces when you could have
just typed a tab with a few spaces, this error triggers", in other
words "use of this is to encourage indenting with tabs".