RE: [PATCH] doc: 'T' status code for git status

[Julien Richard <julien.richard@ubisoft.com>]

I investigated a bit more my case and it is indeed a file which is modified and is now a symlink. If it's only the main case I think it would be nice to add it to the documentation as the 'typechange' can be quite mysterious otherwise (internet is not much of help on the subject appart from https://code-examples.net/en/q/849dff ).
 
I don't find the table very explicit, for instance I don't understand the []. Is it all the possible statuses in the index / worktree for a given status?
With the T added the table becomes even more complex. As the T status seems like a corner case, mentioning it in the doc briefly would be sufficient, at least for my use case.

Thx,
Julien

-----Message d'origine-----
De : Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> 
Envoyé : mercredi 9 décembre 2020 21:26
À : Jeff King <peff@peff.net>
Cc : Julien Richard via GitGitGadget <gitgitgadget@gmail.com>; git@vger.kernel.org; Julien Richard <jairbubbles@hotmail.com>; Julien Richard <julien.richard@ubisoft.com>
Objet : Re: [PATCH] doc: 'T' status code for git status

Jeff King <peff@peff.net> writes:

> I wonder if we need a little more, though. The list here:
>
>> --- a/Documentation/git-status.txt
>> +++ b/Documentation/git-status.txt
>> @@ -197,6 +197,7 @@ codes can be interpreted as follows:
>>  * 'R' = renamed
>>  * 'C' = copied
>>  * 'U' = updated but unmerged
>> +* 'T' = type changed
>>  
>>  Ignored files are not listed, unless `--ignored` option is in 
>> effect,  in which case `XY` are `!!`.
>
> is followed by a table showing the meaning of those entries in each 
> slot. Should there be some "T" entries there, too?
>
> I think it could basically show up anywhere that "M" could.

Meaning something like the patch attached at the end, perhaps?

> It is correctly documented in the diff manpage. There we define it as 
> "change in the type of the file". I'm not sure if that's really making 
> anything clearer than "type changed". ;)
>
> Perhaps "type changed (e.g., a symbolic link becoming a file)" would 
> be more descriptive, but I'm not sure it's necessary. (And if so, it 
> probably would be better placed in the diff documentation).

Sitting next to existing copied, renamed, and updated-but-unmerged, the extra explanation in parentheses looks a bit out of place.  It does make sense to have it described in the diff documentation, but I think it already is covered adequately over there.

Another thing I noticed while looking at the context is that "updated but" is misleading.  You might be in the middle of a merge, and the path may have been modified in their history as well as somewhere in your history, but the change in your history may be far in the past that you do not even care or remember.  As far as you are concerned, you didn't update it (e.g. relative to HEAD) at all.
It simply is "unmerged"---if you take a look at the conflicted contents, saved it and then perhaps "git add" it, you may now be able to call the path "updated", but at that point it is no longer "unmerged".

Thanks.


A few things about the attached.

 - it drops "updated but" from the explanation of 'U' in the list.

 - after that, everything in the list becomes a single-word, so
   instead of "type changed", it invents a verb "type-change" and
   uses its pp. form when adding an entry for 'T'.

 - it updates the table to add 'T' next to 'M'.

 - "work tree changed since index" in the table was awkward; it
   rephrases it to "modified in work tree relative to index",
   because (1) these entries are not talking about the working tree
   as a whole; it is one path in the working tree changing its
   type. and (2) using "changed" and "updated" for the same 'M' in
   different context was unnecessarily confusing.  Instead, it uses
   'modified', which appears in the list before the table.
 
 - The "not updated" line was using a leading "\t"ab, and that is
   why the preimage appears unaligned; the patch updates the line to
   use 8 spaces (i.e. ' ' for X and 7 spaces to align).

 Documentation/git-status.txt | 21 ++++++++++++---------
 1 file changed, 12 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git c/Documentation/git-status.txt w/Documentation/git-status.txt index 7731b45f07..2e4b761ecc 100644
--- c/Documentation/git-status.txt
+++ w/Documentation/git-status.txt
@@ -196,7 +196,8 @@ codes can be interpreted as follows:
 * 'D' = deleted
 * 'R' = renamed
 * 'C' = copied
-* 'U' = updated but unmerged
+* 'U' = unmerged
+* 'T' = type-changed
 
 Ignored files are not listed, unless `--ignored` option is in effect,  in which case `XY` are `!!`.
@@ -204,15 +205,17 @@ in which case `XY` are `!!`.
 ....
 X          Y     Meaning
 -------------------------------------------------
-	 [AMD]   not updated
-M        [ MD]   updated in index
-A        [ MD]   added to index
+        [AMTD]   not changed
+M       [ MTD]   modified in index
+T       [ MTD]   type-changed in index
+A       [ MTD]   added to index
 D                deleted from index
-R        [ MD]   renamed in index
-C        [ MD]   copied in index
-[MARC]           index and work tree matches
-[ MARC]     M    work tree changed since index
-[ MARC]     D    deleted in work tree
+R       [ MTD]   renamed in index
+C       [ MTD]   copied in index
+[MTARC]          index and work tree matches
+[ MTARC]    M    modified in work tree relative to index
+[ MTARC]    T    type-changed in work tree relative to index
+[ MTARC]    D    deleted in work tree
 [ D]        R    renamed in work tree
 [ D]        C    copied in work tree
 -------------------------------------------------