Re: [PATCH 0/2] merge --summary vs. merge.summary

[Jeff King <peff@peff.net>]

On Thu, Apr 03, 2008 at 11:03:14AM +0200, SZEDER Gábor wrote:

> So the '--summary' option controls the printing of diffstat, while the
> 'merge.summary' config variable controls the behaviour of 'fmt-merge-msg',

Think that --diffstat is probably a better name. But your series
actually _changes_ the meaning of --summary, which is probably a bad
idea for people who have scripted around these.

The problem is that you have two concepts with the same name; giving one
of the concepts the name means that the other concept breaks.

I think the most compatible way to go forward is to use two new names:

  1. --summary (and --no- form) changes to --diffstat; --summary remains
     as a compatibility alias for --diffstat.

  2. merge.summary becomes merge.something_else, along with
     --something-else support. merge.summary remains as a compatibility
     option for merge.something_else.

Though I can't think of a good "something_else". Given that there isn't
even a command-line equivalent to merge.summary now, maybe just leave it
as merge.summary, stop advertising --summary (even though it is a
compatibility alias, we officially call it --diffstat), and then there
is less confusion on the part of documentation readers (though perhaps
more on the part of those who blindly try --summary).

-Peff