Re: [PATCH] doc: provide guidance on user.name format

["brian m. carlson" <sandals@crustytoothpaste.net>]

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On 2019-09-15 at 22:18:07, Junio C Hamano wrote:
> "brian m. carlson" <sandals@crustytoothpaste.net> writes:
> > diff --git a/Documentation/git-commit-tree.txt b/Documentation/git-commit-tree.txt
> > index 4b90b9c12a..34a8496b0e 100644
> > --- a/Documentation/git-commit-tree.txt
> > +++ b/Documentation/git-commit-tree.txt
> > @@ -92,6 +92,12 @@ if set:
> >  
> >  (nb "<", ">" and "\n"s are stripped)
> >  
> > +The author and committer names are by convention some form of a personal name,
> > +as opposed to a username, although Git does not enforce or require any
> > +particular form.
> 
> I have a lot of trouble with 'username' in the context of this
> paragraph.
> 
> After all, you are describing the name appropriate to be set as the
> value of the user.name configuration, and you are trying to stress
> that the name used there is different from and has nothing to do
> with the name machines use to identify the user.  In the paragraph
> that follows this new paragraph, there is a reference to "system
> user name", which is still not great but probably better than
> "username" above.  Perhaps there is a term that is distinct enough
> from "user name" that is commonly used I am forgetting?  I am almost
> tempted to say "user id", but there must be even better phrases.  I
> dunno.

I wonder if we should just omit that aside, then, since I'm not sure of
a less ambiguous term for "how I identify myself to a computer".  I think
describing the convention as "some form of a personal name" is probably
sufficient to tell people what we suggest they do.

My first draft of that sentence didn't include the part within the
commas at all.
-- 
brian m. carlson: Houston, Texas, US
OpenPGP: https://keybase.io/bk2204

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