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2020-10-20Documentation: stylistically normalize references to Signed-off-by:Libravatar Bradley M. Kuhn1-1/+1
Ted reported an old typo in the git-commit.txt and merge-options.txt. Namely, the phrase "Signed-off-by line" was used without either a definite nor indefinite article. Upon examination, it seems that the documentation (including items in Documentation/, but also option help strings) have been quite inconsistent on usage when referring to `Signed-off-by`. First, very few places used a definite or indefinite article with the phrase "Signed-off-by line", but that was the initial typo that led to this investigation. So, normalize using either an indefinite or definite article consistently. The original phrasing, in Commit 3f971fc425b (Documentation updates, 2005-08-14), is "Add Signed-off-by line". Commit 6f855371a53 (Add --signoff, --check, and long option-names. 2005-12-09) switched to using "Add `Signed-off-by:` line", but didn't normalize the former commit to match. Later commits seem to have cut and pasted from one or the other, which is likely how the usage became so inconsistent. Junio stated on the git mailing list in <xmqqy2k1dfoh.fsf@gitster.c.googlers.com> a preference to leave off the colon. Thus, prefer `Signed-off-by` (with backticks) for the documentation files and Signed-off-by (without backticks) for option help strings. Additionally, Junio argued that "trailer" is now the standard term to refer to `Signed-off-by`, saying that "becomes plenty clear that we are not talking about any random line in the log message". As such, prefer "trailer" over "line" anywhere the former word fits. However, leave alone those few places in documentation that use Signed-off-by to refer to the process (rather than the specific trailer), or in places where mail headers are generally discussed in comparison with Signed-off-by. Reported-by: "Theodore Y. Ts'o" <tytso@mit.edu> Signed-off-by: Bradley M. Kuhn <bkuhn@sfconservancy.org> Acked-by: Taylor Blau <me@ttaylorr.com> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
2020-10-20Documentation: clarify and expand description of --signoffLibravatar Bradley M. Kuhn1-6/+10
Building on past documentation improvements in b2c150d3aa (Expand documentation describing --signoff, 2016-01-05), further clarify that any project using Git may and often does set its own policy. However, leave intact reference to the Linux DCO, which Git also uses. It is reasonable for Git to advocate for its own Signed-off-by methodology in its documentation, as long as the documentation remains respectful that YMMV and other projects may well have very different contributor representations tied to Signed-off-by. Signed-off-by: Bradley M. Kuhn <bkuhn@sfconservancy.org> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> Signed-off-by: Jeff King <peff@peff.net> Reviewed-by: Taylor Blau <me@ttaylorr.com> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
2020-10-20doc: preparatory clean-up of description on the sign-off optionLibravatar Junio C Hamano1-0/+14
Almost identical text on the signed-off-by trailer appears in the documentation for "git commit" and "git merge" and its friends. Introduce a new signoff-option.txt file to be shared. A couple of things of note are: - The short-form "-s" is available only in "git commit", but not in commands that are friends of "git merge", as it is used as a short-hand for "--strategy". - The original lacks description on the negated "--no-signoff" form on "git commit" side, but it equally is applicable. It however was unclear in the original text that not adding a Signed-off-by trailer is the default, so rephrase to explain it as a way to countermand a --signoff option that appeared earlier on the same command line. This is in preparation to apply a further clarification on what exactly the Signed-off-by trailer means. Suggested-by: Philippe Blain <levraiphilippeblain@gmail.com> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> Reviewed-by: Taylor Blau <me@ttaylorr.com> Reviewed-by: Bradley M. Kuhn <bkuhn@sfconservancy.org> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>