2015-05-03 17:54 GMT-06:00 Junio C Hamano <gitster@xxxxxxxxx>:
> Alex Henrie <alexhenrie24@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
>
>> Signed-off-by: Alex Henrie <alexhenrie24@xxxxxxxxx>
>> ---
>> builtin/branch.c | 2 +-
>> 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
>>
>> diff --git a/builtin/branch.c b/builtin/branch.c
>> index 1d15037..c0b4bae 100644
>> --- a/builtin/branch.c
>> +++ b/builtin/branch.c
>> @@ -972,7 +972,7 @@ int cmd_branch(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
>>
>> if (!branch) {
>> if (!argc || !strcmp(argv[0], "HEAD"))
>> - die(_("could not set upstream of HEAD to %s when "
>> + die(_("could not set upstream of HEAD to %s because "
>> "it does not point to any branch."),
>> new_upstream);
>> die(_("no such branch '%s'"), argv[0]);
>
> Thanks.
>
> To me neither sounds so funny, but both sound somewhat awkward,
> primarily because it is unclear in the first reading what "it" in
> "it does not point at any branch" refers to.
>
> Perhaps if you explain in the log message to illustrate why you
> found it funny (and the update text is not), it might help, e.g.
>
> "git branch", ran with <this and that options>, when the current
> branch is <in what state>, dies with
>
> fatal: could not set upstream of HEAD to frotz when it does not
> point to any branch.
>
> which is funny <because of such and such reasons>. Saying "because"
> makes it <better beause of such and such reasons>.
>
> I suspect that this message is about a nonsense attempt to set an
> upstream for a detached HEAD perhaps? Then
>
> fatal: cannot set upstream for a detached HEAD
>
> may be shorter and more directly points at the root cause of the
> error?
I don't really understand what this code is doing. It just sounds
funny to use "when" to join a phrase in the past tense with a phrase
in the present tense.
This error message can be triggered by running `git branch
--set-upstream-to=origin/master` from a detached head. But if running
from a detached head is the only way to trigger the error message, why
does the code use strcmp instead of if (detached) { ... } as other
code in that function does?
Also, I missed the complementary error message "could not unset
upstream of HEAD when it does not point to any branch." We should
either change the "when" to a "because" in the second message too or
rewrite both of these messages entirely.
-Alex
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