Re: [PATCH] git-gui: remove lines starting with the comment character

[Pratyush Yadav <me@yadavpratyush.com>]

On 03/02/21 12:48PM, Eric Sunshine wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 3, 2021 at 12:35 PM Johannes Sixt <j6t@kdbg.org> wrote:
> > Am 02.02.21 um 21:03 schrieb Pratyush Yadav:
> > > The comment character is specified by the config variable
> > > 'core.commentchar'. Any lines starting with this character is considered
> > > a comment and should not be included in the final commit message.
> > >
> > > Teach git-gui to filter out lines in the commit message that start with
> > > the comment character. If the config is not set, '#' is taken as the
> > > default.
> >
> > This is WRONG. Git GUI is that: a GUI, it's all about WYSIWYG. If you do
> > not give sufficient unambiguous visual clue to the user that certain
> > lines will be ignored, you cannot ignore them.
> >
> > Perhaps what you are really only interested in is to remove the list of
> > conflicted files after a merge conflict? Then the correct way to proceed
> > would be to sanitize the contents of .git/MERGE_MSG before it is
> > inserted into the edit box.

While this patch also fixes the merge conflict message case, it was in 
fact prompted by [0], which talks about comments in the commit message 
template. This is likely useful information that we don't want to hide 
from the user.

> 
> This is indeed the case I run into which is annoying because the
> commented-out list of conflicted files does not get removed when
> git-gui performs the actual commit.
> 
> However, although what you propose here seems superficially enticing,
> it doesn't mirror the behavior of git-commit itself when launching an
> editor, in which case the unsanitized file (containing the
> commented-out conflicted file list) is loaded into the editor
> verbatim, and it is only sanitized when the edit session is finished.
> The important difference is that extra text is added to the edit
> buffer telling the user explicitly that "lines beginning with '#' will
> be ignored".

I agree. 
 
> So, perhaps one way forward is for Pratyush to emulate that behavior
> and insert some text into the edit box saying "lines beginning with
> '#' will be ignored", or add a label above or below the edit box
> stating the same. (Of course, the actual displayed comment-character
> should be determined dynamically.)

This would be a nice addition. Will see which approach looks best.

[0] https://github.com/prati0100/git-gui/issues/51

-- 
Regards,
Pratyush Yadav