Re: [PATCH] Documentation: explain "mboxrd" pretty format

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

Emma Brooks <me@pluvano.com> writes:

> On 2020-04-15 22:03:36-0700, Junio C Hamano wrote:
>> > +Like 'email', but lines in the commit message starting with "From "
>> > +(preceded by zero or more ">") are quoted with ">" so they aren't
>> > +confused as starting a new commit.
>> 
>> I am torn between rephrasing "starting a new commit" with "starting
>> a new e-mail message", and keeping it as-is.  Technically, the latter
>> is more correct---the >From quoting is a technique to avoid starting
>> a line with "From " in a reversible way, as pieces of e-mails in a
>> single mailbox file needs to be split at the boundary.  But in the
>> context of format-patch, perhaps saying each "record" in the output
>> file is a "commit" (not a piece of e-mail message) would probably be
>> an acceptable white lie.
>
> While it is more accurate to say "starting a new email" rather than
> "commit", I think it might be less confusing to say "starting a new
> commit", if the reader isn't already familiar with how mbox works or its
> variants, since the pretty formats control commit display and would
> typically be thought about in terms of commits rather than emails.

Exactly.  That is why I said that I was torn between technical
correctness and tool-specific description.  "torn between" is quite
different from "inclined to prefer the one different from yours" ;-)