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describe-doc: clarify default length of abbreviation
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Clarify the default length used for the abbreviated form used for
commits in git describe.

The behavior was modified in Git 2.11.0, but the documentation was not
updated to clarify the new behavior.

Signed-off-by: Anders Höckersten <anders@hockersten.se>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
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ahockersten authored and gitster committed May 17, 2021
1 parent 0628636 commit bfe35a6
Showing 1 changed file with 9 additions and 5 deletions.
14 changes: 9 additions & 5 deletions Documentation/git-describe.txt
Expand Up @@ -63,9 +63,10 @@ OPTIONS
Automatically implies --tags.

--abbrev=<n>::
Instead of using the default 7 hexadecimal digits as the
abbreviated object name, use <n> digits, or as many digits
as needed to form a unique object name. An <n> of 0
Instead of using the default number of hexadecimal digits (which
will vary according to the number of objects in the repository with
a default of 7) of the abbreviated object name, use <n> digits, or
as many digits as needed to form a unique object name. An <n> of 0
will suppress long format, only showing the closest tag.

--candidates=<n>::
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -139,8 +140,11 @@ at the end.

The number of additional commits is the number
of commits which would be displayed by "git log v1.0.4..parent".
The hash suffix is "-g" + unambiguous abbreviation for the tip commit
of parent (which was `2414721b194453f058079d897d13c4e377f92dc6`).
The hash suffix is "-g" + an unambigous abbreviation for the tip commit
of parent (which was `2414721b194453f058079d897d13c4e377f92dc6`). The
length of the abbreviation scales as the repository grows, using the
approximate number of objects in the repository and a bit of math
around the birthday paradox, and defaults to a minimum of 7.
The "g" prefix stands for "git" and is used to allow describing the version of
a software depending on the SCM the software is managed with. This is useful
in an environment where people may use different SCMs.
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