Re: [PATCH 2/2] Documentation/git-gc: improve description of --auto

Jeff King [off-list ref] wrote:

It is a little bit odd that there is so much low-level detail in the
'--auto' description versus the rest of the page. But I think it reads
OK. Also note that the previous incarnation (and my changes) use the
`foo` form to monospace arguments, while the rest of the page uses 'foo'
(which actually means emphasis). I think the former is more correct, but
asciidoc renders the latter much more pleasantly in manpages. I will see
if I can tweak asciidoc to make this look better.

I like this a lot better than what was there before.  Nice work.
I have no real opinion on the asciidoc syntax.

I personally prefer to read commands in the source as `foo` and
feel that asciidoc should just format it correctly for the backend.
If it isn't then we should try to work with the asciidoc folks to
get it right...

 --auto::
-	With this option, `git gc` checks if there are too many
-	loose objects in the repository and runs
-	gitlink:git-repack[1] with `-d -l` option to pack them.
-	The threshold for loose objects is set with `gc.auto` configuration
-	variable, and can be disabled by setting it to 0.  Some
-	Porcelain commands use this after they perform operation
-	that could create many loose objects automatically.
-	Additionally, when there are too many packs are present,
-	they are consolidated into one larger pack by running
-	the `git-repack` command with `-A` option.  The
-	threshold for number of packs is set with
-	`gc.autopacklimit` configuration variable.
+	With this option, `git gc` checks whether any housekeeping is
+	required; if not, it exits without performing any work.
+	Some git commands run `git gc --auto` after performing
+	operations that could create many loose objects.
++
+Housekeeping is required if there are too many loose objects or
+too many packs in the repository. If the number of loose objects
+exceeds the value of the `gc.auto` configuration variable, then
+all loose objects are combined into a single pack using
+`git-repack -d -l`.  Setting the value of `gc.auto` to 0
+disables automatic packing of loose objects.
++
+If the number of packs exceeds the value of `gc.autopacklimit`,
+then existing packs (except those marked with a `.keep` file)
+are consolidated into a single pack by using the `-A` option of
+`git-repack`. Setting `gc.autopacklimit` to 0 disables
+automatic consolidation of packs.

-- 
Shawn.