Re: Confusing inconsistent option syntax

2018-12-03 Thread Jeff King 
On Sun, Dec 02, 2018 at 09:07:47PM +1100, Robert White wrote:

> `git log --pretty short` gives the error message "ambiguous argument
> 'short'". To get the expected result, you need to use `git log
> --pretty=short`. However, `git log --since yesterday` and `git log
> --since=yesterday` both work as expected.
> 
> When is an = needed? What is the reason for these inconsistencies?

As Duy mentioned, this has to do with optional arguments for some flags.
This is discussed in more detail in "git help cli". Notably (and as
advised in that manpage), you should always use the "stuck" form (with
the "=") in scripts, in case a flag grows an optional value later.

-Peff

Re: Confusing inconsistent option syntax

2018-12-02 Thread Duy Nguyen 
On Sun, Dec 2, 2018 at 11:13 AM Robert White  wrote:
>
> `git log --pretty short` gives the error message "ambiguous argument
> 'short'". To get the expected result, you need to use `git log
> --pretty=short`. However, `git log --since yesterday` and `git log
> --since=yesterday` both work as expected.
>
> When is an = needed? What is the reason for these inconsistencies?

--pretty can take no arguments. --pretty alone is the same as
--pretty=medium. --since always needs an argument.
-- 
Duy

Confusing inconsistent option syntax

2018-12-02 Thread Robert White 
`git log --pretty short` gives the error message "ambiguous argument
'short'". To get the expected result, you need to use `git log
--pretty=short`. However, `git log --since yesterday` and `git log
--since=yesterday` both work as expected.

When is an = needed? What is the reason for these inconsistencies?

---
Robert White