From: kristofferhaugsbakk@fastmail.com
To: git@vger.kernel.org
Cc: Kristoffer Haugsbakk <code@khaugsbakk.name>,
christian.couder@gmail.com, jackmanb@google.com,
Linus Arver <linus@ucla.edu>
Subject: [PATCH 2/2] doc: interpret-trailers: explain key format
Date: Mon, 30 Mar 2026 23:11:33 +0200 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <doc_int-tr_not_rfc.535@msgid.xyz> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <CV_doc_int-tr_key_format.533@msgid.xyz>
From: Kristoffer Haugsbakk <code@khaugsbakk.name>
A trailer key must consist of ASCII alphanumeric characters and
hyphens *only*. Let’s document it explicitly instead of relying on
readers being conservative and painting their trailers by numbers
(by the documentation examples).
The previous commit for “key–value pairs” allows us to segue right into
describing these lines as consisting of a key and a value, which is our
opening to describing the key format.
Just like *trailer* we emphasize these two first standalone word
mentions. They are then mostly used in placeholders throughout the rest
of the document (<key> and <value>).
Reported-by: Brendan Jackman <jackmanb@google.com>
Signed-off-by: Kristoffer Haugsbakk <code@khaugsbakk.name>
---
Notes (series):
`trailer.c` uses `isalnum()`. That short research together with a little
testing left me with this conclusion. (The C unit tests for trailers and
t7513-interpret-trailers.sh seem to just use lines with spaces and no
separators for non-trailer lines.)
Documentation/git-interpret-trailers.adoc | 5 ++++-
1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/git-interpret-trailers.adoc b/Documentation/git-interpret-trailers.adoc
index e7c1f821619..92d9c95f9d2 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-interpret-trailers.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/git-interpret-trailers.adoc
@@ -27,7 +27,10 @@ Signed-off-by: Alice <alice@example.com>
Signed-off-by: Bob <bob@example.com>
------------------------------------------------
-the last two lines starting with `Signed-off-by` are trailers.
+the last two lines starting with `Signed-off-by` are trailers. These two
+trailers have the _key_ `Signed-off-by` and a _value_ (Alice and Bob).
+The key must consist of only ASCII alphanumeric characters and hyphens
+(`-`). The hyphens serve as interword separators.
This command reads commit messages from either the
_<file>_ arguments or the standard input if no _<file>_ is specified.
--
2.53.0.32.gf6228eaf9cc
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-03-30 21:12 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 29+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2025-04-01 13:27 git-interpret-trailers and period characters in the key Brendan Jackman
2025-04-03 11:07 ` Christian Couder
2025-04-07 20:37 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-03-30 21:11 ` [PATCH 0/2] doc: interpret-trailers: explain key format kristofferhaugsbakk
2026-03-30 21:11 ` [PATCH 1/2] doc: interpret-trailers: stop fixating on RFC 822 kristofferhaugsbakk
2026-03-30 22:27 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-03-30 22:56 ` Kristoffer Haugsbakk
2026-03-30 23:24 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-03-30 21:11 ` kristofferhaugsbakk [this message]
2026-03-30 21:55 ` [PATCH 2/2] doc: interpret-trailers: explain key format Junio C Hamano
2026-03-30 22:23 ` Kristoffer Haugsbakk
2026-03-31 12:35 ` Ben Knoble
2026-03-31 16:03 ` Kristoffer Haugsbakk
2026-04-13 10:20 ` [PATCH v2 0/9] " kristofferhaugsbakk
2026-04-13 10:21 ` [PATCH v2 1/9] doc: interpret-trailers: stop fixating on RFC 822 kristofferhaugsbakk
2026-04-13 10:21 ` [PATCH v2 2/9] doc: interpret-trailers: replace “lines” with “metadata” kristofferhaugsbakk
2026-04-13 10:21 ` [PATCH v2 3/9] doc: interpret-trailers: use “metadata” in Name as well kristofferhaugsbakk
2026-04-13 10:21 ` [PATCH v2 4/9] doc: interpret-trailers: not just for commit messages kristofferhaugsbakk
2026-04-13 10:21 ` [PATCH v2 5/9] doc: interpret-trailers: explain the format after the intro kristofferhaugsbakk
2026-04-13 10:21 ` [PATCH v2 6/9] doc: interpret-trailers: explain key format kristofferhaugsbakk
2026-04-13 10:21 ` [PATCH v2 7/9] doc: interpret-trailers: add key format example kristofferhaugsbakk
2026-04-13 10:21 ` [PATCH v2 8/9] doc: interpret-trailers: commit to “trailer block” term kristofferhaugsbakk
2026-04-13 10:21 ` [PATCH v2 9/9] doc: intepret-trailers: document comment line treatment kristofferhaugsbakk
2026-04-13 13:26 ` Kristoffer Haugsbakk
2026-04-13 15:48 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-05-08 15:03 ` Kristoffer Haugsbakk
2026-05-08 15:01 ` [PATCH v2 0/9] doc: interpret-trailers: explain key format Kristoffer Haugsbakk
2026-05-11 2:41 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-05-11 19:23 ` D. Ben Knoble
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