Re: [PATCH] Reformat "your branch has diverged..." lines to reduce line length.

"Avery Pennarun" [off-list ref] writes:

quoted

        Your branch is ahead of 'origin/add-chickens2' by 21 commits.

        Your branch is behind 'origin/add-chickens2' by 1 commit.

        Your branch and 'origin/add-chickens2' have diverged, and have
        21 and 1 different commit(s) each, respectively.

 I moved "respectively" so that the variable parts will come close to the
 beginning of physical line.

Well, the fact that the number of commits is "variable" isn't so
important, unless you start diverging by 1e9 commits or something :)

No, no, no.  The point is not about keeping it on screen when "less -S"
chops at the right end.  The point is to limit eye-movement of the user;
i.e. presenting important information consistently at around the same
column, closer to the left edge.  Probably the line break should be before
"and have" to make it even easier to read.

quoted

        Your branch and 'origin/add-chickens2' have diverged,
        and have 21 and 1 different commit(s) each, respectively.

Alternatively, your rephrasing above made me think of the idea of just
printing *both* of the first two messages in the "diverging" case.

I do not think it is such a good idea --- we invite silly comments like
"You say X is ahead of Y, and X is behind of Y, which is true?".

Please let me know if you want me to resubmit the patch with your
suggestions or whether you'll handle it.  I'm still a little vague on
the exact patch approval process.

It is very much more "consensus building" than "approval", and at this
point we wait for a day or two to see if people come up with even better
alternatives.  Just be kind enough to prod me if I forget after a few
days, though ;-)