Re: why does git set X in LESS env var?

[Dragan Simic <dsimic@manjaro.org>]

On 2023-10-12 00:26, Christoph Anton Mitterer wrote:
> On Wed, 2023-10-11 at 15:23 -0700, Junio C Hamano wrote:
>> I think that was the reason we added it back in 2005.  In any case,
>> asking "why" is not a useful use of anybody's time, because it is
>> very unlikely to change in the official version we ship, and because
>> it is so easy for any individual who does not like it to drop by
>> exporting the $LESS environment variable.
> 
> Well the other commit I've mentioned kinda read as if it was thought
> that either X or both F and X were needed for the effect to exit less
> immediately if the output is too short ("F and X because
> sometimes the output Git pipes to less is short").

In general, not clearing the screen (i.e. "-X") is there so the 
displayed contents is still visible in the terminal after exiting the 
pager.  That wouldn't be the case if the screen was cleared, making it 
less usable for most users.

Exiting if less contents than one full screen was displayed (i.e. "-F") 
is there to save people from the frustration of quitting a pager that 
actually wasn't needed to be executed.

When it comes to "-R", it has to be there, otherwise no coloring of the 
paginated output could be possible.

> So I thought maybe that was intended, and the no-clear was just a side-
> effect no one ever really thought about.
> 
> 
> Anyway, thanks,
> Chris.