To be honest, I'm sad about the change.
I'm not sure if which other applications use the default editor, I know
only git from those. So let's say I will talk about the editor which
git-commit spawns during committing a change.
When I was new to Linux (when I attended a university), I stumbled over
the same issue which is used to advocate for the change here - I wasn't
able to write properly in Vi during time limited exercise for points :)
. Thankfully, I was able to finish in time in the end with friend's help.
But my mindset wasn't 'Damn, why did someone choose such unintuitive
thing for default editor, it should be changed.', but rather 'Dang, I
need to learn more, it wasn't that hard.'
And I had a nice feeling that I learnt something new after time :) .
I always thought Fedora community has plenty of people who like to learn
rather than complain, so the argument about a person needs to spend time
to learn two commands: 'i' and ':x' to being able to commit (not much
else is needed for 'basic' usage. Yes, if you want to write effectively
you will need to learn more, but IMHO it is sufficient for commit
messages), is quite strange to me.
But I understand someone can be surprised when committing for the first
time and git-commit opens a file for him and you don't know the editor
it uses.
What about this - Git could generate a message within the comments
during commit:
'Using editor: {message}'
In case of Vi:
'Using editor: Vi , for more info type :help'
Or nano:
'Using editor: nano'
CCing Git maintainer to see whether it can be implemented or not.
On 6/25/20 7:18 PM, Ben Cotton wrote:
> https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/UseNanoByDefault
>
> == Summary ==
>
> Let's make Fedora more approachable, by having a default editor that
> doesn't require specialist knowledge to use.
>
> == Owner ==
> * Name: [[User:chrismurphy| Chris Murphy]]
> * Email: chrismurphy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>
> == Detailed Description ==
>
> Users are exposed to the default editor when they use commands that
> call it. The main example here is something like <code>git
> commit</code>.
>
> Fedora does not currently have a default terminal text editor, because
> the $EDITOR environment variable is unset by default. But a common
> scenario where users wind up in a terminal text editor is when using
> 'git commit'. By default, git picks vi. You need to spend time
> learning how to use it, for even basic editing tasks. This increases
> the barrier to entry for those who are switching to Fedora and don't
> know how to use vi. It also makes things hard for those who don't
> particularly want to learn how to use vi. (These arguments would apply
> just as well if git picked Vim. vi is like hard mode for Vim, with
> fewer features, missing syntax highlighting, and no indication of what
> mode you are in. Even Vim users may feel lost and bewildered when
> using vi.)
>
> In contrast, Nano offers the kind of graphical text editing experience
> that people are used to, and therefore doesn't require specialist
> knowledge to use. It is already installed across most Fedora Editions
> and Spins. This proposal will make Nano the default editor, while
> continuing to install <code>vim-minimal</code> (which provides vi, but
> not Vim). People will still be able to call <code>vi</code> if they
> want to edit a file. It will also obviously be possible to change the
> default editor to vi or Vim, for those who want it.
>
> Why make Nano default and vi optional, rather than the other way
> round? Because Nano is the option that everyone can use.
>
> == Feedback ==
>
> Pending ...
>
> == Benefit to Fedora ==
>
> * Makes the default editor across all of Fedora more approachable.
> * Nano is also mostly self-documenting, by displaying common keyboard
> shortcuts on-screen.
> * More in line with the default editor of other distributions.
>
> == Scope ==
> * Proposal owners:
> ** Modify comps to include nano Fedora wide.
> ** Create a new subpackage of <code>nano</code>, called
> <code>nano-editor</code>.
> ** <code>nano-editor</code> to include
> <code>/usr/lib/environment.d/10-nano.conf</code>, which sets
> <code>$EDITOR</code> to <code>nano</code>.
>
> With this approach, if <code>nano</code> is uninstalled, the
> configuration will be removed with it. At the same time, installing
> nano on its own won't install the conf.
>
> * Other developers: N/A
>
> * Release engineering: [https://pagure.io/releng/issue/9522 #9522]
>
> * Policies and guidelines: N/A
>
> * Trademark approval: N/A
>
> == Upgrade/compatibility impact ==
>
> Will not apply to upgrades.
>
> == How To Test ==
>
> Run <code>export EDITOR="/usr/bin/nano"</code>.
>
> == User Experience ==
>
> Users running <code>git commit</code> will be able to just type their
> commit message, rather than having to learn about insert mode, and
> they'll be able to cut and paste without having to learn special
> shortcuts.
>
> == Dependencies ==
>
> No additional dependencies are required.
>
> == Contingency Plan ==
> The contingency plan is to revert the change by removing the
> <code>nano-editor</code> package.
>
> * Contingency deadline: probably the beta? It's an easy change to revert.
> * Blocks release? If the change breaks the redirection to an editor,
> it should block the release. However, this is unlikely.
> * Blocks product? Potentially all.
>
> == Documentation ==
> As part of this change, it would be good to add instructions for
> changing the default editor to the
> [https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/quick-docs/ quick docs].
>
>
--
Zdenek Dohnal
Software Engineer
Red Hat Czech - Brno TPB-C
Attachment:
signature.asc
Description: OpenPGP digital signature
_______________________________________________ devel mailing list -- devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe send an email to devel-leave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Fedora Code of Conduct: https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/project/code-of-conduct/ List Guidelines: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines List Archives: https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
