# Re: \[PATCH v3 3/3\] pretty: add abbrev option to %(describe)

- From: Eli Schwartz \<hidden\>
- Date: 2021-10-29 19:04:38 
- List: git
- Page: https://ratatoskr.run/git/2021/10/7910098
- Thread: https://ratatoskr.run/git/2021/10/7906034/t.md

```text
On 10/29/21 2:51 PM, Eric Sunshine wrote:
> On Fri, Oct 29, 2021 at 2:45 PM Eli Schwartz [ref] wrote:
>> The %(describe) placeholder by default, like `git describe`, uses a
>> seven-character abbreviated commit object name. This may not be
>> sufficient to fully describe all commits in a given repository,
>> resulting in a placeholder replacement changing its length because the
>> repository grew in size.  This could cause the output of git-archive to
>> change.
>>
>> Add the --abbrev option to `git describe` to the placeholder interface
>> in order to provide tools to the user for fine-tuning project defaults
>> and ensure reproducible archives.
>> [...]
>> Signed-off-by: Eli Schwartz <redacted>
>> ---
>> diff --git a/Documentation/pretty-formats.txt b/Documentation/pretty-formats.txt
>> @@ -222,6 +222,10 @@ The placeholders are:
>> +** 'abbrev=<N>': Instead of using the default number of hexadecimal digits
>> +   (which will vary according to the number of objects in the repository with a
>> +   default of 7) of the abbreviated object name, use <n> digits, or as many digits
>> +   as needed to form a unique object name.
> 
> There's still an inconsistent mix of `<N>` and `<n>` here (mentioned
> in my earlier review). Is that intentional or just a simple oversight?


Ah, sorry... I overlooked that. It was originally copied from the
git-describe man page which uses lowercase and I overlooked that part of
your review.

It should be consistently uppercase here for consistency with
pretty-formats.


-- 
Eli Schwartz
Arch Linux Bug Wrangler and Trusted User
```

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