On Thu, Mar 5, 2015 at 1:19 PM, Karthik Nayak <karthik.188@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > made changes to "cat-file" to include a "--literally" Write in imperative mood: "Teach cat-file a --literally option..." > option which prints the type of the object without any > complaints. Unfortunately, this explanation is quite lacking. What "complaints"? What problem is --literally trying to solve? To answer these questions, you will probably want to say something about the sort of object which requires --literally, and how cat-file fails or behaves without it. > Signed-off-by: Karthik Nayak <karthik.188@xxxxxxxxx> > --- > diff --git a/builtin/cat-file.c b/builtin/cat-file.c > index df99df4..60b9ec4 100644 > --- a/builtin/cat-file.c > +++ b/builtin/cat-file.c > @@ -323,7 +332,7 @@ static int batch_objects(struct batch_options *opt) > } > > static const char * const cat_file_usage[] = { > - N_("git cat-file (-t | -s | -e | -p | <type> | --textconv) <object>"), > + N_("git cat-file (-t|-s|-e|-p|<type>|--textconv|-t --literally) <object>"), This might read more naturally as: git cat-file (-t [--literally] | -s | -e | -p | <type> | --textconv) <object> rather than repeating the -t option. > N_("git cat-file (--batch | --batch-check) < <list-of-objects>"), > NULL > }; > @@ -369,6 +379,8 @@ int cmd_cat_file(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix) > OPT_SET_INT('p', NULL, &opt, N_("pretty-print object's content"), 'p'), > OPT_SET_INT(0, "textconv", &opt, > N_("for blob objects, run textconv on object's content"), 'c'), > + OPT_BOOL( 0, "literally", &literally, > + N_("show the type of the given loose object, use for debugging")), Taking other help strings into account, there is no need for the long-winded "type of the given loose object" when "loose object's type" will suffice. More importantly, thought, you should try to say something about how --literally is actually useful, such as for "broken" objects or objects not of a known type. > { OPTION_CALLBACK, 0, "batch", &batch, "format", > N_("show info and content of objects fed from the standard input"), > PARSE_OPT_OPTARG, batch_option_callback }, > @@ -380,7 +392,7 @@ int cmd_cat_file(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix) > > git_config(git_cat_file_config, NULL); > > - if (argc != 3 && argc != 2) > + if (argc != 3 && argc != 2 && argc != 4) Perhaps it's time to rephrase this as "if (argc < 2 || argc > 4)"? > usage_with_options(cat_file_usage, options); > > argc = parse_options(argc, argv, prefix, options, cat_file_usage, 0); > @@ -405,5 +417,10 @@ int cmd_cat_file(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix) > if (batch.enabled) > return batch_objects(&batch); > > - return cat_one_file(opt, exp_type, obj_name); > + if (literally && opt == 't') > + return cat_one_file(opt, exp_type, obj_name, literally); > + else if (literally) > + usage_with_options(cat_file_usage, options); I realize that existing cases in cat-file are already guilty of this transgression, but it is quite annoying when a program merely spits out its usage statement without actually telling you what you did wrong; and it's often difficult to figure out why it was rejected. It would be much more helpful in a case like this to state explicitly that --literally was given without -t. (But perhaps such a "friendliness" change is fodder for a separate patch.) > + > + return cat_one_file(opt, exp_type, obj_name, literally); > } > -- > 2.3.1.167.g7f4ba4b.dirty -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe git" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html