Re: [PATCH v16 0/7] config commit verbose

SZEDER Gábor [off-list ref] writes:

A while ago in a related thread Peff remarked about 'git commit's
'--quiet' and '--verbose' options:

   I think that is a UX mistake, and we would not do
   it that way if designing from scratch. But we're stuck with it for
   historical reasons (I'd probably name "--verbose" as "--show-diff" or
   something if writing it today).

http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/289027/focus=289069

Then I replied:

   However, that doesn't mean that we have to spread this badly chosen
   name from options to config variables, does it?  I think that if we
   are going to define a new config variable today, then it should be
   named properly, and it's better not to call it 'commit.verbose', but
   'commit.showDiff' or something.

http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/289027/focus=289303

Any thoughts on this?  Before a poorly named config variable enters to
the codebase and we'll have to maintain it "forever"...

My thoughts are --show-diff would probably be a UI mistake of a
different sort, if you are anticipating that the different kinds of
information to be shown in verbose modes would proliferate and that
you would want to give the user flexibility to pick and choose to
use some while not using some other among them.  You would end up
having --show-xyzzy --show-frotz --show-nitfol ... options.

I am not convinced that we would want such a degree of flexibility
in the first place, but even if we did, we'd be better off giving
that as "--verbose=diff,xyzzy,frotz...", I would think.

And commit.verbose that begins its life as a simple boolean, which
can be extended to become bool-or-string if needed, is better than
having commit.showDiff, commit.showXyzzy, commit.showFrotz, etc.