Re: [PATCH] Make git revert warn the user when reverting a merge commit.

"Boyd Stephen Smith Jr." [off-list ref] writes:

In addition, I think a one-time-per-user warning would be nice, but I'm not 
sure the best way to implement that.  My initial thoughts would be reading a 
boolean config option, if unset/true issuing the warning and then if unset 
set it to false.  However, that seems a bit... unclean and I fear there might 
be a policy against writing ~/.gitconfig configuration options from a 
subcommand other than 'git config'.  Any suggestions on the implementation?

As an end user, I find one-time-per-user warning more frustrating than it
is worth.  I may see the warning issued for the first time of my using
certain feature, and because I am so novice to the program suite that I do
not fully understand what the warning is trying to say when I see it.
Thanks to the "one-time-per-user"-ness, that is the only chance for me to
see the message --- which often means that I won't see the warning before
the gravity of it has any chance to really sink in my mind.

"You can set i-know-what-i-am-doing in your ~/.xyzzyconfig file to squelch
this message" is slightly better, as (1) I can control when I stop seeing
it, and (2) because setting that in my config is done by me, as opposed to
the tool doing behind my back, it is much more likely for me to recall how
to get the warning back when I choose to see it again.

The above discussion is "in general".  In this particular case, I am not
convinced if the warning itself is worth it, though.