From 6c486862636be1fe2d5785451c52f5379b0bad24 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Jean-Noel Avila Date: Thu, 11 May 2017 14:06:32 +0200 Subject: usability: don't ask questions if no reply is required There has been a bug report by a corporate user that stated that "spelling mistake of stash followed by a yes prints character 'y' infinite times." This analysis was false. When the spelling of a command contains errors, the git program tries to help the user by providing candidates which are close to the unexisting command. E.g Git prints the following: git: 'stahs' is not a git command. See 'git --help'. Did you mean this? stash and then exits. The problem with this hint is that it is not formally indicated as an hint and the user is in fact encouraged to reply to the question, whereas the Git command is already finished. The user was unlucky enough that it was the command he was looking for, and replied "yes" on the command line, effectively launching the `yes` program. The initial error is that the Git programs, when launched in command-line mode (without interaction) must not ask questions, because these questions would normally require a user input as a reply that they won't handle indeed. That's a source of confusion on UX level. To improve the general usability of the Git suite, the following rule was applied: if the sentence * appears in a non-interactive session * is printed last before exit * is a question addressing the user ("you") the sentence is turned into affirmative and proposes the option. The basic rewording of the question sentences has been extended to other spots found in the source. Requested at https://github.com/git/git-scm.com/issues/999 by rpai1 Signed-off-by: Jean-Noel Avila Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano --- builtin/am.c | 5 +++-- builtin/checkout.c | 5 ++--- 2 files changed, 5 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-) (limited to 'builtin') diff --git a/builtin/am.c b/builtin/am.c index 31fb60578f..38944f7902 100644 --- a/builtin/am.c +++ b/builtin/am.c @@ -1313,7 +1313,7 @@ static int parse_mail(struct am_state *state, const char *mail) } if (is_empty_file(am_path(state, "patch"))) { - printf_ln(_("Patch is empty. Was it split wrong?")); + printf_ln(_("Patch is empty.")); die_user_resolve(state); } @@ -1941,7 +1941,8 @@ static void am_resolve(struct am_state *state) if (unmerged_cache()) { printf_ln(_("You still have unmerged paths in your index.\n" - "Did you forget to use 'git add'?")); + "You should 'git add' each file with resolved conflicts to mark them as such.\n" + "You might run `git rm` on a file to accept \"deleted by them\" for it.")); die_user_resolve(state); } diff --git a/builtin/checkout.c b/builtin/checkout.c index 81f07c3ef2..8d313ceb52 100644 --- a/builtin/checkout.c +++ b/builtin/checkout.c @@ -1259,9 +1259,8 @@ int cmd_checkout(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix) * new_branch && argc > 1 will be caught later. */ if (opts.new_branch && argc == 1) - die(_("Cannot update paths and switch to branch '%s' at the same time.\n" - "Did you intend to checkout '%s' which can not be resolved as commit?"), - opts.new_branch, argv[0]); + die(_("'%s' is not a commit and a branch '%s' cannot be created from it"), + argv[0], opts.new_branch); if (opts.force_detach) die(_("git checkout: --detach does not take a path argument '%s'"), -- cgit v1.2.3 From 9932242f597b2990117430546e411793090e22e2 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Jean-Noel Avila Date: Thu, 11 May 2017 14:06:33 +0200 Subject: read-tree -m: make error message for merging 0 trees less smart aleck "git read-tree -m" requires a tree argument to name the tree to be merged in. Git uses a cutesy error message to say so and why: $ git read-tree -m warning: read-tree: emptying the index with no arguments is deprecated; use --empty fatal: just how do you expect me to merge 0 trees? $ git read-tree -m --empty fatal: just how do you expect me to merge 0 trees? When lucky, that could produce an ah-hah moment for the user, but it's more likely to irritate and distract them. Instead, tell the user plainly that the tree argument is required. Also document this requirement in the git-read-tree(1) manpage where there is room to explain it in a more straightforward way. Signed-off-by: Jean-Noel Avila Helped-by: Jonathan Nieder Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano --- builtin/read-tree.c | 5 +++-- 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) (limited to 'builtin') diff --git a/builtin/read-tree.c b/builtin/read-tree.c index 8ba64bc785..8eae1e88e8 100644 --- a/builtin/read-tree.c +++ b/builtin/read-tree.c @@ -197,9 +197,10 @@ int cmd_read_tree(int argc, const char **argv, const char *unused_prefix) setup_work_tree(); if (opts.merge) { - if (stage < 2) - die("just how do you expect me to merge %d trees?", stage-1); switch (stage - 1) { + case 0: + die("you must specify at least one tree to merge"); + break; case 1: opts.fn = opts.prefix ? bind_merge : oneway_merge; break; -- cgit v1.2.3