On Wed, Sep 3, 2025 at 1:54 PM Kristoffer Haugsbakk
[off-list ref] wrote:

On Wed, Sep 3, 2025, at 18:50, Eric Sunshine wrote:

quoted

I realize that the changes made by this series are not in any released
version yet, but from reading the emails still arriving which argue
for retaining the command for reasons of muscle memory or because of
its (strong) mnemonic value, I suspect that the hint(s) this series
adds may not be complete enough. In particular, the advice this series
adds (use `git log --raw --no-merges`) seems to be primarily aimed at
scripted use of the command. But the muscle memory and mnemonic
arguments suggest that advice should be given for interactive use, as
well, such as proposing that the user can create an alias.

Good point. I would suggest discussing it in the
breaking changes doc under a new "For Users"
section. I would like to avoid expanding the error
message too much due to the already mentioned
fear of overwhelming folks.

I have doubts that users will consult a document when presented with
the message.

I've seen  "troubleshooting" questions from git users
who got one of those long and well-described Hints
like e.g. detached head and default git init branch
when either the msg already spelled eveything out
or the msg was purely informational.

I didn't spell it out above, but what I had in mind was something very
simple... not at all ong and detailed; for instance:

   For interactive use, define a Git alias `git whatchanged`
   which runs `git log --raw --no-merges`.