Re: [PATCH v4 5/8] interpret-trailers: add --parse convenience option

On 16 August 2017 at 10:20, Jeff King [off-list ref] wrote:

On Tue, Aug 15, 2017 at 01:26:53PM +0200, Martin Ågren wrote:

quoted

quoted

 This command reads some patches or commit messages from either the
-<file> arguments or the standard input if no <file> is specified. Then
-this command applies the arguments passed using the `--trailer`
-option, if any, to the commit message part of each input file. The
-result is emitted on the standard output.
+<file> arguments or the standard input if no <file> is specified. If
+`--parse` is specified, the output consists of the parsed trailers.
+
+Otherwise, the this command applies the arguments passed using the
+`--trailer` option, if any, to the commit message part of each input
+file. The result is emitted on the standard output.

"the this"

Thanks.

quoted

I think I get why you use --parse above (and in the synopsis), although
it kind of feels like it should be --only-input or perhaps "--only-input
(or --parse)".

I really wanted to point people to --parse as the go-to option for the
parsing mode for the sake of simplicity (in fact I initially considered
not even exposing them at all). And I hoped that if they jumped to the
definition of --parse, that would lead them to the other options.

I dunno. I agree it is does not read particularly well. Probably the
whole description section could be rewritten to cover the newly dual
nature of the command a bit better. But I didn't want to disrupt the
existing flow too much.

Certainly. It's not like I can offer a "better" way. After thinking
about this some more, I think this is a good example of "less is more".
It's possibly less precise or complete in some sense, but it's probably
much more useful and readable.