On Wed, Nov 27, 2024 at 8:23 AM Junio C Hamano <gitster@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> [PATCH] CodingGuidelines: a handful of error message guidelines
>
> It is more efficient to have something in the coding guidelines
> document to point at, when we want to review and comment on a new
> message in the codebase to make sure it "fits" in the set of
> existing messages.
>
> Let's write down established best practice we are aware of.
>
> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@xxxxxxxxx>
> ---
> diff --git c/Documentation/CodingGuidelines w/Documentation/CodingGuidelines
> @@ -703,16 +703,22 @@ Program Output
> Error Messages
>
> - - Do not end error messages with a full stop.
> + - Do not end a single-sentence error message with a full stop.
>
> - Do not capitalize the first word, only because it is the first word
> - in the message ("unable to open %s", not "Unable to open %s"). But
> + in the message ("unable to open '%s'", not "Unable to open '%s'"). But
> "SHA-3 not supported" is fine, because the reason the first word is
> capitalized is not because it is at the beginning of the sentence,
> but because the word would be spelled in capital letters even when
> it appeared in the middle of the sentence.
>
> - - Say what the error is first ("cannot open %s", not "%s: cannot open")
> + - Say what the error is first ("cannot open '%s'", not "%s: cannot open").
> +
> + - Enclose the subject of an error inside a pair of single quotes,
> + e.g. `die(_("unable to open '%s'"), path)`.
These changes all seem fine.
> + - Unless there is a compelling reason not to, error messages should
> + be marked for `_("translation")`.
We might want to spell this out more fully, such as stating that
messages from porcelain commands should be marked for translation, but
messages in plumbing should not. Also, perhaps mention explicitly that
BUG("message") should not be marked for translation since they are
intended to be read by Git developers, not by end-users.
