Re: Why are there multiple ways to get the manual in Git?
From: "Junio C Hamano" "Philip Oakley" writes: The `git revisions --help` does work ;-) Not anymore ;-) I think Ralf Thielow fixed it recently. hmm, I sort of though it would still work with a valid guide. I'd only checked with my last GfW version. -- hey ho Philip
Re: Why are there multiple ways to get the manual in Git?
"Philip Oakley" writes: > The `git revisions --help` does work ;-) Not anymore ;-) I think Ralf Thielow fixed it recently.
Re: Why are there multiple ways to get the manual in Git?
From: "Jakub Narębski" W dniu 17.09.2016 o 20:39, Fredrik Gustafsson pisze: On Sat, Sep 17, 2016 at 01:47:52PM -0400, Andrew Johnson wrote: $ git help $ git --help $ man git- I tested all three to confirm they were equivalent. While I'm not able to answer your question, I can shred a little light about them not being equal. For example using a windows machine $ man git- does not work and $ git help opens a webbrowser instead of a man page. Using a unix system I would however assume that $ man git- would work since it's the standard way of getting help on those systems. There is also additional difference. There are help pages which are not about specific Git command, but about concepts (gitcli, gitrevisions, githooks, gitrepository-layout, gitglossary), or about files (gitignore, gitattributes, to some extent githooks). Those are only accessible with `git help ` or, on OS with installed 'man', also `man `. The `git revisions --help` does work ;-) But like you say, its apparent "command" name is 'gitrevisions'. Thus real commands gave a git-command name, while concepts have a gitconcept name which can then be found via the man command. -- Philip
Re: Why are there multiple ways to get the manual in Git?
W dniu 17.09.2016 o 20:39, Fredrik Gustafsson pisze: > On Sat, Sep 17, 2016 at 01:47:52PM -0400, Andrew Johnson wrote: >> $ git help >> $ git --help >> $ man git- >> >> I tested all three to confirm they were equivalent. > > While I'm not able to answer your question, I can shred a little light > about them not being equal. For example using a windows machine > > $ man git- > > does not work and > > $ git help > > opens a webbrowser instead of a man page. Using a unix system I would > however assume that > > $ man git- > > would work since it's the standard way of getting help on those systems. There is also additional difference. There are help pages which are not about specific Git command, but about concepts (gitcli, gitrevisions, githooks, gitrepository-layout, gitglossary), or about files (gitignore, gitattributes, to some extent githooks). Those are only accessible with `git help ` or, on OS with installed 'man', also `man `. Just FYI -- Jakub Narębski
Re: Why are there multiple ways to get the manual in Git?
On Sat, Sep 17, 2016 at 8:39 PM, Fredrik Gustafsson wrote: > On Sat, Sep 17, 2016 at 01:47:52PM -0400, Andrew Johnson wrote: >> $ git help >> $ git --help >> $ man git- >> >> I tested all three to confirm they were equivalent. Maybe it will be easier to understand if you try: $ git help help or $ git help --help or $ man git-help :-) > While I'm not able to answer your question, I can shred a little light > about them not being equal. For example using a windows machine > > $ man git (It should be "git-" above.) > does not work and > > $ git help > > opens a webbrowser instead of a man page. Yeah, it is one of the reasons. There are systems where "man" is not the standard ways to get help, and text on the command line is not the prefered format for help content. So the "git help" command has different default depending on the OS to better suit user expectations on each OS. This way people can just be teached to use "git help" and that will do something sensible everywhere. > Using a unix system I would > however assume that > > $ man git (Again it should be "git-" above.) > would work since it's the standard way of getting help on those systems. Yeah, so we need that to work to make people happy on unix systems. Another reason is that "git help" provides more configurability and more features like its -a and -g options. It could provide even more in the future, like options to search in the documentation.
Re: Why are there multiple ways to get the manual in Git?
From: "Fredrik Gustafsson" On Sat, Sep 17, 2016 at 01:47:52PM -0400, Andrew Johnson wrote: $ git help $ git --help $ man git- I tested all three to confirm they were equivalent. It is (IIUC) in a general sort of way "by design", and a little bit of accident. While I'm not able to answer your question, I can shred a little light about them not being equal. For example using a windows machine $ man git does not work and $ git help opens a webbrowser instead of a man page. Using a unix system I would however assume that $ man git would work since it's the standard way of getting help on those systems. -- Historically git was a set of shell scripts named git-*, so each stood alone. Then there was the great consolidation (around V1.6?) which created the modern `git ' approach, with every command normally having -h and --help options for short form usage and long form man pages. The option capability became standardised. Also a `git help ` command was created. Underneath there are still the (backward compatible) git-* forms. The help command allowed selection of display type, so that on Unix/Linux man was the norm, while an --html (or --web) option is available for those who like the pretty browser view The help commnad just converts the parameters to achieve the expected display (with various fallbacks if the command or guide is missing, etc) Meanwhile on Windows, the man facility was not ported as part of git, so it defaults to the --web version. If you are on Windows, and download the SDK as well you can install the man viewer and other goodies -- Philip
Re: Why are there multiple ways to get the manual in Git?
On Sat, Sep 17, 2016 at 01:47:52PM -0400, Andrew Johnson wrote: > $ git help > $ git --help > $ man git- > > I tested all three to confirm they were equivalent. While I'm not able to answer your question, I can shred a little light about them not being equal. For example using a windows machine $ man git does not work and $ git help opens a webbrowser instead of a man page. Using a unix system I would however assume that $ man git would work since it's the standard way of getting help on those systems. -- Fredrik Gustafsson phone: +46 733-608274 e-mail: iv...@iveqy.com website: http://www.iveqy.com
