Re: [PATCH 1/4] usability: don't ask questions if no reply is required

[Stefan Beller <sbeller@google.com>]

+cc rashmipai36@gmail.com

On Wed, May 3, 2017 at 9:47 AM, Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Jean-Noel Avila wrote:
>
>> As described in the bug report at
>>
>> https://github.com/git/git-scm.com/issues/999
>
> External issue tracker URLs have been known to change or disappear and
> we try to make commit messages self-contained instead of relying on
> them.  It is common to put a 'Requested-by:' footer or sentence saying
> 'Requested at <url> by <person>' near the bottom of a commit message
> for attribution and context.  Relying on the bug report more heavily
> like this example (instead of including any relevant information)
> makes it harder for a reader to understand the patch easily in
> one place.
>
> In other words, instead of asking the reader to read the bug report,
> please include pertinent information the reader needs to
> understand the patch here so they don't have to.
>
>> the user was disconcerted by the question asked by the program not
>> requiring a reply from the user. 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.
>>
>> Signed-off-by: Jean-Noel Avila <jn.avila@free.fr>
>> ---
>>  help.c | 4 ++--
>>  1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
>>
>> diff --git a/help.c b/help.c
>> index bc6cd19cf..4658a55c6 100644
>> --- a/help.c
>> +++ b/help.c
>> @@ -411,8 +411,8 @@ const char *help_unknown_cmd(const char *cmd)
>>
>>       if (SIMILAR_ENOUGH(best_similarity)) {
>>               fprintf_ln(stderr,
>> -                        Q_("\nDid you mean this?",
>> -                           "\nDid you mean one of these?",
>> +                        Q_("\nThe most approaching command is",
>> +                           "\nThe most approaching commands are",
>>                          n));
>
> For what it's worth, I find the new text harder to understand than the
> old text.
>
> From the bug report:
>
>         Now git says git: 'stahs' is not a git command. See 'git --help'.
>         Did you mean this?
>
>         stash
>
>         Git asked if i meant git stash. and i entered yes. and git
>         printed the character y infinite times.
>
> If I'm reading that correctly, the problem is not that questions are
> alarming but that Git did not cope well with the answer.  When I try
> to reproduce it, I get
>
>         $ git stahs
>         WARNING: You called a Git command named 'stahs', which does not exist.
>         Continuing under the assumption that you meant 'stash'
>         in 5.0 seconds automatically...
>
> which is much clearer.  After commenting out "[help] autocorrect = 50" in my
> ~/.config/git/config, I get
>
>         $ git stahs
>         git: 'stahs' is not a git command. See 'git --help'.
>
>         Did you mean this?
>                 stash
>
> which does seem improvable, at least for consistency with the
> autocorrect case.  For example, would something like
>
>         $ git stahs
>         fatal: You called a Git command named 'stahs', which does not exist.
>         hint: Did you mean 'git stash'?
>
> work better?  And the autocorrect case could say something like
>
>         $ git stahs
>         warning: You called a Git command named 'stahs', which does not exist.
>         warning: Continuing under the assumption that you meant 'stash'
>         warning: in 5.0 seconds automatically...
>
> Is contact information for the bug reporter available so we can try out
> different wordings and see what works for them?

yes, cc'd.
Also see
https://public-inbox.org/git/CAOqCAXSOZCG8mijV+yATtmC1PFGYiOSqtraSdbhbP2rRHBO_Qg@mail.gmail.com

>
> Thanks and hope that helps,
> Jonathan