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Wed, 3 Sep 2025 17:42:37 -0400 (EDT) X-Mailer: MessagingEngine.com Webmail Interface Precedence: bulk X-Mailing-List: git@vger.kernel.org List-Id: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: MIME-Version: 1.0 X-ThreadId: AMHZM2JIZMZV Date: Wed, 03 Sep 2025 23:41:49 +0200 From: "Kristoffer Haugsbakk" To: "Eric Sunshine" Cc: "Junio C Hamano" , "Kristoffer Haugsbakk" , git@vger.kernel.org Message-Id: In-Reply-To: References: <9611573e-fb0b-49d5-933a-50d8e0603701@app.fastmail.com> <15bb8d07-675b-4ccd-8345-ab5861319faf@app.fastmail.com> Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/4] usage: help the user help themselves Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Wed, Sep 3, 2025, at 23:21, Eric Sunshine wrote: >> I've seen "troubleshooting" questions from git users >> who got one of those long and well-described Hints >> like e.g. detached head and default git init branch >> when either the msg already spelled eveything out >> or the msg was purely informational. > > I didn't spell it out above, but what I had in mind was something very > simple... not at all ong and detailed; for instance: > > For interactive use, define a Git alias `git whatchanged` > which runs `git log --raw --no-merges`. But that won=E2=80=99t work since git-whatchanged(1) is a builtin and yo= u cannot use an alias to shadow a builtin. Now you can suggest minor variations like `whatchange`. But then people will go back to talking about their finger memory.[1][2][3] You would need Peff=E2=80=99s: https://lore.kernel.org/git/20250830022718.GB567900@coredump.intra.peff.= net/ > I wonder if we should loosen the "aliases cannot override builtins" ru= le > for deprecated commands. Perhaps something like the patch below. =E2=80=A0 1: If people are adamant about a command staying exactly as it= is for interactive use, I don=E2=80=99t imagine their tolerance for a sligh= tly different invocation will be much higher. =E2=80=A0 2: And I wonder about the audience who has been using a comman= d which was deprecated for twelve years who also need to be reminded about aliases. =E2=80=A0 3: But there is one `whatchange` conversion: https://lore.kern= el.org/git/CAAn3O_2iHVt5TctvwLLSXm5Nw2wS8e9Xk0is1=3Dk=3D-qRS=3DgHVMQ@mai= l.gmail.com/ --=20 Kristoffer Haugsbakk