Re: [PATCH v2] doc: use `man git` to teach users how to navigate the docs

On Wed, Oct 7, 2026, at 3:13 PM, Junio C Hamano wrote:

"Julia Evans via GitGitGadget" [off-list ref] writes:

quoted

From: Julia Evans <redacted>

Many existing users of Git don't know how Git's documentation is
structured, and a lot of folks have expressed frustration that `man git`
doesn't make it easy to find out how to get help with using Git.

Explain how Git's help system works in `man git`
(`git push -h` gives a short help, `git push --help` is the full docs),
since it's a slightly unusual approach.

Remove the references to gittutorial and giteveryday since they're
unlikely to help new users learn Git. Currently they feel very
aspirational (it would be nice to have a tutorial and a guide to
everyday Git commands!), but we should give users a realistic view of
what the documentation actually provides.

The text mentions removing 'tutorial' and 'everyday', but does
not explain why we no longer reference 'user-manual', 'datamodel',
and 'cli'.  The third iteration should justify this.  At least,
I recall that adding a reference to 'cli' early in the document was
a deliberate decision, and we should explain why it is no longer
relevant.  It would not be surprising if it has become obsolete
over the last decade, but we still need to spell out why it is no
longer appropriate to reference here.

Thanks, can do. Here's my thought process:

- Removed 'cli' because (from my perspective as a user) it seems like
  something that's written for Git developers and not users, like
  with "Commands that support the enhanced option parser",
  how is a user supposed to know which commands support
  the enhanced parser? I think it makes sense as a guide to
  scripting Git but not for interactive use. Some of the bits on `diff`
  feel like they might belong in the `git diff` man page, not sure.
- Removed "user-manual" because it's outdated. The chapter on
  "Sharing development with others" explains how to use
  `git format-patch` which is not how most people collaborate with
  git.
- Once all the others were removed it seemed a bit out of place
  to mention `gitdatamodel`.