From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Felipe Contreras Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/2] user-manual: Simplify the user configuration. Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2009 16:04:11 +0200 Message-ID: <94a0d4530901240604o5ae0d321h17dc6aabeefe9d53@mail.gmail.com> References: <1232561365-5919-1-git-send-email-felipe.contreras@gmail.com> <7v8wp4e5wn.fsf@gitster.siamese.dyndns.org> <94a0d4530901211319t8126611wc1437848631fe988@mail.gmail.com> <831vuvfh7t.fsf@kalahari.s2.org> <94a0d4530901220857q1027c05bs137dcc0244a1cc5a@mail.gmail.com> <83wscndv57.fsf@kalahari.s2.org> <94a0d4530901240021u65adeff8pb6995ef707bc1f68@mail.gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: Hannu Koivisto , Junio C Hamano , git@vger.kernel.org To: Johannes Schindelin X-From: git-owner@vger.kernel.org Sat Jan 24 15:06:28 2009 Return-path: Envelope-to: gcvg-git-2@gmane.org Received: from vger.kernel.org ([209.132.176.167]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1LQj93-0007X5-86 for gcvg-git-2@gmane.org; Sat, 24 Jan 2009 15:05:57 +0100 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1751987AbZAXOEQ (ORCPT ); Sat, 24 Jan 2009 09:04:16 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1752379AbZAXOEO (ORCPT ); Sat, 24 Jan 2009 09:04:14 -0500 Received: from fg-out-1718.google.com ([72.14.220.158]:29537 "EHLO fg-out-1718.google.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751457AbZAXOEO (ORCPT ); Sat, 24 Jan 2009 09:04:14 -0500 Received: by fg-out-1718.google.com with SMTP id 19so2891985fgg.17 for ; Sat, 24 Jan 2009 06:04:12 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:mime-version:received:in-reply-to:references :date:message-id:subject:from:to:cc:content-type :content-transfer-encoding; bh=JqH72WKazuEae9fjeCAHIv6Fd2cICpSCO8zNLRex6JM=; b=cl6JE/WeBdJCZOkOnE04+JnEhTDTTPUsqpcMB6n5ATYntewmwQf7jKhsJ78ZFhZuvm t3aGCSEHad8W0+XaSlSJCVglIoOTQUaXyLKbE1oxF3OwruOXa13nKAG9INLnAidMR3Om hmxn65hB4GSovKrwyto1Yu3Yh/F6j5mkpiVXY= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id:subject:from:to :cc:content-type:content-transfer-encoding; b=ilk90RpSirtPIIY7K08BQMnUOSrYXpw6NZsGjzdXccK+WPvP3YSYIUd57zFzRxf4OL zBHWpwedIp8MEQ9QC2Vp3xgAP2UWYS/k/5xxMSY46FXP++IxG58nPTmND7n1WqADM9jb vH+Um0qftlsR3MtJRAG5Bn/5sR6/c8MQUd+Fc= Received: by 10.86.94.11 with SMTP id r11mr13012fgb.53.1232805851951; Sat, 24 Jan 2009 06:04:11 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: Sender: git-owner@vger.kernel.org Precedence: bulk List-ID: X-Mailing-List: git@vger.kernel.org Archived-At: On Sat, Jan 24, 2009 at 3:42 PM, Johannes Schindelin wrote: > Hi, > > On Sat, 24 Jan 2009, Felipe Contreras wrote: > >> On Thu, Jan 22, 2009 at 8:59 PM, Hannu Koivisto wrote: >> > Felipe Contreras writes: >> > >> >> On Thu, Jan 22, 2009 at 6:17 PM, Hannu Koivisto wrote: >> >>> Felipe Contreras writes: >> >>> >> >>>> This brings back my previous question: where is the home directory in >> >>>> a Windows system? >> >>> >> >>> It's where %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH% points to. >> >> >> >> I thought it was something like that. Do we want something like that >> >> in the manual, or should we assume Windows users know that? >> > >> > I should have added that Unix programs (i.e. Cygwin programs and >> > even some native ports) probably use %HOME% which may be different >> > from %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%. I recall that if you haven't >> > explicitly set up HOME in Windows environment, Cygwin sets it up >> > magically from passwd or falls back to %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%. I >> > have no idea if msysgit respects %HOME% if it is set or always uses >> > %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH% or something completely different (user >> > profile, most likely). >> > >> > It certainly may be that "home directory" is a foreign concept to >> > some Windows users. Some might know it as a user profile or a >> > personal folder (just guessing, I'm pretty isolated from less >> > experienced Windows users), even though user profile is a separate >> > concept from "home directory" (note that there is %USERPROFILE% >> > which by default is the same as %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH% at least in >> > XP). >> > >> > In any case, what Cygwin git does should be expected by Cygwin >> > users. If msysgit wanted to be a really native Windows application >> > and store the configuration where Microsoft thinks it should be >> > stored, it probably shouldn't store the config under "home >> > directory" to begin with (I'm guessing that's what it does) but >> > under %USERPROFILE\Application Data\Git (...FILE\Local >> > Settings\... in case non-roaming storage is wanted). And in that >> > case the manual might be misleading for msysgit users. See >> > e.g. . >> >> Isn't that enough argument to stop assuming the user knows where is >> the "home directory"? > > Why does it appear as if we always have to bend over for Windows? That is > really frustrating. > > In any case, the only thing the user would need to know the location of > $HOME for is for .gitconfig. And for Windows users I suggest using the > dialog in git gui (for the variables that are editable there), which > should cover most of what the user needs. For everything else, they > should use "git config". > > Because if you really start with explaining where the home can be on > Windows, you would also have to cover why "%USERPROFILE%" does not work in > Git bash. And before you know what is happening, you have a big ass > Windows chapter in the user manual that revolves around anything except > Git. Huh? That was exactly my point. It's much easier for everyone to just use git config --global than explain how create and edit the .gitconfig file. If this is explained it shouldn't be in the "Telling git your name" section. -- Felipe Contreras