RelNotes: wordsmithing

Make many textual tweaks to the 2.4.0 release notes.

Signed-off-by: Michael Haggerty <mhagger@alum.mit.edu>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>

diff --git a/Documentation/RelNotes/2.4.0.txt b/Documentation/RelNotes/2.4.0.txt
index 7b23ca352d499f267c785d67e611015ad6a1ed1f..cde64be5359b3b66e704b90c7f9014b1704f8fc6 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/RelNotes/2.4.0.txt
+++ b/Documentation/RelNotes/2.4.0.txt
@@ -6,19 +6,19 @@ Backward compatibility warning(s)
 
 This release has a few changes in the user-visible output from
 Porcelain commands. These are not meant to be parsed by scripts, but
 
 This release has a few changes in the user-visible output from
 Porcelain commands. These are not meant to be parsed by scripts, but

-the users still may want to be aware of the changes:
+users still may want to be aware of the changes:

 
 

- * Output from "git log --decorate" (and "%d" format specifier used in
-   the userformat "--format=<string>" parameter "git log" family of
-   command takes) used to list "HEAD" just like other tips of branch
-   names, separated with a comma in between.  E.g.
+ * The output from "git log --decorate" (and, more generally, the "%d"
+   format specifier used in the "--format=<string>" parameter to the
+   "git log" family of commands) has changed. It used to list "HEAD"
+   just like other branches; e.g.,

 
      $ git log --decorate -1 master
      commit bdb0f6788fa5e3cacc4315e9ff318a27b2676ff4 (HEAD, master)
      ...
 
 
      $ git log --decorate -1 master
      commit bdb0f6788fa5e3cacc4315e9ff318a27b2676ff4 (HEAD, master)
      ...
 

-   This release updates the output slightly when HEAD refers to the tip
-   of a branch whose name is also shown in the output.  The above is
+   This release changes the output slightly when HEAD refers to a
+   branch whose name is also shown in the output. The above is now

    shown as:
 
      $ git log --decorate -1 master
    shown as:
 
      $ git log --decorate -1 master


@@ -26,15 +26,15 @@ the users still may want to be aware of the changes:
      ...
 
  * The phrasing "git branch" uses to describe a detached HEAD has been
      ...
 
  * The phrasing "git branch" uses to describe a detached HEAD has been

-   updated to match that of "git status":
+   updated to agree with the phrasing used by "git status":

 
 

-    - When the HEAD is at the same commit as it was originally
+    - When HEAD is at the same commit as when it was originally

       detached, they now both show "detached at <commit object name>".
 
       detached, they now both show "detached at <commit object name>".
 

-    - When the HEAD has moved since it was originally detached,
-      they now both show "detached from <commit object name>".
+    - When HEAD has moved since it was originally detached, they now
+      both show "detached from <commit object name>".

 
 

-    Earlier "git branch" always used "from"
+   Previously, "git branch" always used "from".

 
 
 Updates since v2.3
 
 
 Updates since v2.3


@@ -46,8 +46,9 @@ Ports
    platforms with smaller SSIZE_MAX, leading to read(2)/write(2)
    failures.
 
    platforms with smaller SSIZE_MAX, leading to read(2)/write(2)
    failures.
 

- * We did not check the curl library version before using
-   CURLOPT_PROXYAUTH feature that may not exist.
+ * We did not check the curl library version before using the
+   CURLOPT_PROXYAUTH feature, which did not exist in older versions of
+   the library.

 
  * We now detect number of CPUs on older BSD-derived systems.
 
 
  * We now detect number of CPUs on older BSD-derived systems.
 


@@ -66,99 +67,105 @@ UI, Workflows & Features
  * "git log --invert-grep --grep=WIP" will show only commits that do
    not have the string "WIP" in their messages.
 
  * "git log --invert-grep --grep=WIP" will show only commits that do
    not have the string "WIP" in their messages.
 

- * "git push" has been taught a "--atomic" option that makes push to
-   update more than one ref an "all-or-none" affair.
+ * "git push" has been taught an "--atomic" option that makes a push
+   that updates more than one ref an "all-or-none" affair.

 
 

- * Extending the "push to deploy" added in 2.3, the behaviour of "git
-   push" when updating the branch that is checked out can now be
-   tweaked by push-to-checkout hook.
+ * Extending the "push to deploy" feature that was added in 2.3, the
+   behaviour of "git push" when updating the branch that is checked
+   out can now be tweaked by a "push-to-checkout" hook.

 
 

- * Using environment variable LANGUAGE and friends on the client side,
-   HTTP-based transports now send Accept-Language when making requests.
+ * HTTP-based transports now send Accept-Language when making
+   requests. The languages to accept are inferred from environment
+   variables on the client side (LANGUAGE, etc).

 
  * "git send-email" used to accept a mistaken "y" (or "yes") as an
 
  * "git send-email" used to accept a mistaken "y" (or "yes") as an

-   answer to "What encoding do you want to use [UTF-8]? " without
-   questioning.  Now it asks for confirmation when the answer looks
-   too short to be a valid encoding name.
+   answer to "What encoding do you want to use [UTF-8]?" without
+   questioning. Now it asks for confirmation when the answer looks too
+   short to be a valid encoding name.

 
  * When "git apply --whitespace=fix" fixed whitespace errors in the
    common context lines, the command reports that it did so.
 
 
  * When "git apply --whitespace=fix" fixed whitespace errors in the
    common context lines, the command reports that it did so.
 

- * "git status" now allows the "-v" to be given twice to show the
-   differences that are left in the working tree not to be committed.
+ * "git status" now allows the "-v" option to be given twice, in which
+   case it also shows the differences in the working tree that are not
+   staged to be committed.

 
 

- * "git cherry-pick" used to clean-up the log message even when it is
-   merely replaying an existing commit.  It now replays the message
-   verbatim unless you are editing the message of resulting commits.
+ * "git cherry-pick" used to clean up the log message even when it is
+   merely replaying an existing commit. It now replays the message
+   verbatim unless you are editing the message of the resulting
+   commit.

 
  * "git archive" can now be told to set the 'text' attribute in the
    resulting zip archive.
 
 
  * "git archive" can now be told to set the 'text' attribute in the
    resulting zip archive.
 

- * Output from "git log --decorate" mentions HEAD when it points at a
-   tip of an branch differently from a detached HEAD.
+ * Output from "git log --decorate" now distinguishes between a
+   detached HEAD vs. a HEAD that points at a branch.

 
 

-   This is a potentially backward-incompatible change.
+   This is a potentially backward-incompatible change; see above for
+   more information.

 
 

- * "git branch" on a detached HEAD always said "(detached from xyz)",
-   even when "git status" would report "detached at xyz".  The HEAD is
-   actually at xyz and haven't been moved since it was detached in
-   such a case, but the user cannot read what the current value of
-   HEAD is when "detached from" is used.
+ * When HEAD was detached when at commit xyz and hasn't been moved
+   since it was detached, "git status" would report "detached at xyz"
+   whereas "git branch" would report "detached from xyz". Now the
+   output of "git branch" agrees with that of "git status".

 
 

- * "git -C '' subcmd" refused to work in the current directory, unlike
-   "cd ''" which silently behaves as a no-op.
+   This is a potentially backward-incompatible change; see above for
+   more information.
+
+ * "git -C '' subcmd" now works in the current directory (analogously
+   to "cd ''") rather than dying with an error message.

    (merge 6a536e2 kn/git-cd-to-empty later to maint).
 
  * The versionsort.prereleaseSuffix configuration variable can be used
    (merge 6a536e2 kn/git-cd-to-empty later to maint).
 
  * The versionsort.prereleaseSuffix configuration variable can be used

-   to specify that v1.0-pre1 comes before v1.0.
+   to specify that, for example, v1.0-pre1 comes before v1.0.

 
  * A new "push.followTags" configuration turns the "--follow-tags"
    option on by default for the "git push" command.
 
 
  * A new "push.followTags" configuration turns the "--follow-tags"
    option on by default for the "git push" command.
 

- * "git log --graph --no-walk A B..." is a conflicting request that
-   asks nonsense; no-walk tells us show discrete points in the
-   history, while graph asks to draw connections between these
-   discrete points. Forbid the combination.
+ * "git log --graph --no-walk A B..." is a nonsensical combination of
+   options: "--no-walk" requests discrete points in the history, while
+   "--graph" asks to draw connections between these discrete points.
+   Forbid the use of these options together.

 
  * "git rev-list --bisect --first-parent" does not work (yet) and can
 
  * "git rev-list --bisect --first-parent" does not work (yet) and can

-   even cause SEGV; forbid it.  "git log --bisect --first-parent"
-   would not be useful until "git bisect --first-parent" materializes,
-   so it is also forbidden for now.
+   even cause SEGV; forbid it. "git log --bisect --first-parent" would
+   not be useful until "git bisect --first-parent" materializes, so
+   also forbid it for now.

 
 
 Performance, Internal Implementation, Development Support etc.
 
 
 
 Performance, Internal Implementation, Development Support etc.
 

- * Implementation of N_() macro has been updated slightly to help us
+ * Slightly change the implementation of the N_() macro to help us

    detect mistakes.
 
    detect mistakes.
 

- * Implementation of "reflog expire" has been restructured to fit the
-   reflogs better with the recently updated ref API.
+ * Restructure the implementation of "reflog expire" to fit better
+   with the recently updated reference API.

 
 

- * The transport-helper did not give transport options such as
+ * The transport-helper did not pass transport options such as

    verbosity, progress, cloning, etc. to import and export based
    helpers, like it did for fetch and push based helpers, robbing them
    verbosity, progress, cloning, etc. to import and export based
    helpers, like it did for fetch and push based helpers, robbing them

-   the chance to honor the wish of the end-users better.
-
- * The tests that wanted to see that file becomes unreadable after
-   running "chmod a-r file", and the tests that wanted to make sure it
-   is not run as root, we used "can we write into the / directory?" as
-   a cheap substitute, but on some platforms that is not a good
-   heuristics.  The tests and their prerequisites have been updated to
-   check what they really require.
+   of the chance to honor the wish of the end-users better.
+
+ * The tests that wanted to see that a file becomes unreadable after
+   running "chmod a-r file", and the tests that wanted to make sure
+   that they are not run as root, used "can we write into the /
+   directory?" as a cheap substitute. But on some platforms that is
+   not a good heuristic. The tests and their prerequisites have been
+   updated to check what they really require.

    (merge f400e51 jk/sanity later to maint).
 
  * Various issues around "reflog expire", e.g. using --updateref when
    expiring a reflog for a symbolic reference, have been corrected
    and/or made saner.
 
    (merge f400e51 jk/sanity later to maint).
 
  * Various issues around "reflog expire", e.g. using --updateref when
    expiring a reflog for a symbolic reference, have been corrected
    and/or made saner.
 

- * The strbuf API was explained between the API documentation and in
-   the header file.  Move missing bits to strbuf.h so that programmers
-   can check only one place for all necessary information.
+ * The documentation for the strbuf API had been split between the API
+   documentation and the header file. Consolidate the documentation in
+   strbuf.h.

 
  * The error handling functions and conventions are now documented in
 
  * The error handling functions and conventions are now documented in

-   the API manual.
+   the API manual (in api-error-handling.txt).

 
 

- * Optimize attribute look-up, mostly useful in "git grep" on a
+ * Optimize gitattribute look-up, mostly useful in "git grep" on a

    project that does not use many attributes, by avoiding it when we
    (should) know that the attributes are not defined in the first
    place.
    project that does not use many attributes, by avoiding it when we
    (should) know that the attributes are not defined in the first
    place.


@@ -170,26 +177,25 @@ Performance, Internal Implementation, Development Support etc.
    (merge 0b868f0 sb/hex-object-name-is-at-most-41-bytes-long later to maint).
    (merge 5d30851 dp/remove-duplicated-header-inclusion later to maint).
 
    (merge 0b868f0 sb/hex-object-name-is-at-most-41-bytes-long later to maint).
    (merge 5d30851 dp/remove-duplicated-header-inclusion later to maint).
 

- * Simplify the ref transaction API around how "the ref should be
-   pointing at this object" is specified.
+ * Simplify the ref transaction API for verifying that "the ref should
+   be pointing at this object".

 
 

- * Code in "git daemon" to parse out and hold hostnames used in
-   request interpolation has been simplified.
+ * Simplify the code in "git daemon" that parses out and holds
+   hostnames used in request interpolation.

 
 

- * "git push" codepath has been restructured to make it easier to add
-   new configuration bits.
+ * Restructure the "git push" codepath to make it easier to add new
+   configuration bits.

 
 

- * The run-command interface was easy to abuse and make a pipe for us
-   to read from the process, wait for the process to finish and then
-   attempt to read its output, which is a pattern that lead to a
-   deadlock.  Fix such uses by introducing a helper to do this
-   correctly (i.e. we need to read first and then wait the process to
-   finish) and also add code to prevent such abuse in the run-command
-   helper.
+ * The run-command interface made it easy to make a pipe for us to
+   read from a process, wait for the process to finish, and then
+   attempt to read its output. But this pattern can lead to deadlock.
+   So introduce a helper to do this correctly (i.e., first read, and
+   then wait the process to finish) and also add code to prevent such
+   abuse in the run-command helper.

 
  * People often forget to chain the commands in their test together
 
  * People often forget to chain the commands in their test together

-   with &&, leaving a failure from an earlier command in the test go
-   unnoticed.  The new GIT_TEST_CHAIN_LINT mechanism allows you to
+   with &&, letting a failure from an earlier command in the test go
+   unnoticed. The new GIT_TEST_CHAIN_LINT mechanism allows you to

    catch such a mistake more easily.
 
 
    catch such a mistake more easily.
 
 


@@ -208,33 +214,34 @@ notes for details).
    (merge a46442f jk/blame-commit-label later to maint).
 
  * "git rerere" (invoked internally from many mergy operations) did
    (merge a46442f jk/blame-commit-label later to maint).
 
  * "git rerere" (invoked internally from many mergy operations) did

-   not correctly signal errors when told to update the working tree
-   files and failed to do so for whatever reason.
+   not correctly signal errors when it attempted to update the working
+   tree files but failed for whatever reason.

    (merge 89ea903 jn/rerere-fail-on-auto-update-failure later to maint).
 
  * Setting diff.submodule to 'log' made "git format-patch" produce
    broken patches.
    (merge 339de50 dk/format-patch-ignore-diff-submodule later to maint).
 
    (merge 89ea903 jn/rerere-fail-on-auto-update-failure later to maint).
 
  * Setting diff.submodule to 'log' made "git format-patch" produce
    broken patches.
    (merge 339de50 dk/format-patch-ignore-diff-submodule later to maint).
 

- * After attempting and failing a password-less authentication
-   (e.g. Kerberos), libcURL refuses to fall back to password based
-   Basic authentication without a bit of help/encouragement.
+ * After attempting and failing a password-less authentication (e.g.,
+   Kerberos), libcURL refuses to fall back to password-based Basic
+   authentication without a bit of help/encouragement.

    (merge 4dbe664 bc/http-fallback-to-password-after-krb-fails later to maint).
 
    (merge 4dbe664 bc/http-fallback-to-password-after-krb-fails later to maint).
 

- * The "git push" documentation made the "--repo=<there>" option
+ * The "git push" documentation for the "--repo=<there>" option was

    easily misunderstood.
    (merge 57b92a7 mg/push-repo-option-doc later to maint).
 
    easily misunderstood.
    (merge 57b92a7 mg/push-repo-option-doc later to maint).
 

- * Code to read branch name from various files in .git/ directory
-   would have misbehaved if the code to write them left an empty file.
+ * Code to read a branch name from various files in the .git/
+   directory would have overrun array limits if asked to read an empty
+   file.

    (merge 66ec904 jk/status-read-branch-name-fix later to maint).
 
    (merge 66ec904 jk/status-read-branch-name-fix later to maint).
 

- * A misspelled conditional that is always true has been fixed.
+ * Remove a superfluous conditional that is always true.

    (merge 94ee8e2 jk/remote-curl-an-array-in-struct-cannot-be-null later to maint).
 
    (merge 94ee8e2 jk/remote-curl-an-array-in-struct-cannot-be-null later to maint).
 

- * The documentation incorrectly said that C(opy) and R(ename) are the
-   only ones that can be followed by the score number in the output in
-   the --raw format.
+ * The "git diff --raw" documentation incorrectly implied that C(opy)
+   and R(ename) are the only statuses that can be followed by a score
+   number.

    (merge ac1c2d9 jc/diff-format-doc later to maint).
 
  * A broken pack .idx file in the receiving repository prevented the
    (merge ac1c2d9 jc/diff-format-doc later to maint).
 
  * A broken pack .idx file in the receiving repository prevented the


@@ -251,44 +258,44 @@ notes for details).
    to the "log" command.
    (merge 3cab02d jc/doc-log-rev-list-options later to maint).
 
    to the "log" command.
    (merge 3cab02d jc/doc-log-rev-list-options later to maint).
 

- * "git apply --whitespace=fix" used to under-allocate the memory when
-   the fix resulted in a longer text than the original patch.
+ * "git apply --whitespace=fix" used to under-allocate memory when the
+   fix resulted in a longer text than the original patch.

    (merge 407a792 jc/apply-ws-fix-expands later to maint).
 
  * The interactive "show a list and let the user choose from it"
    (merge 407a792 jc/apply-ws-fix-expands later to maint).
 
  * The interactive "show a list and let the user choose from it"

-   interface "add -i" used showed and prompted to the user even when
-   the candidate list was empty, against which the only "choice" the
-   user could have made was to choose nothing.
+   interface used by "git add -i" unnecessarily prompted the user even
+   when the candidate list was empty, against which the only "choice"
+   the user could have made was to choose nothing.

    (merge a9c4641 ak/add-i-empty-candidates later to maint).
 
    (merge a9c4641 ak/add-i-empty-candidates later to maint).
 

- * The todo list "git rebase -i" creates did not fully honor
+ * The todo list created by "git rebase -i" did not fully honor

    core.abbrev settings.
    (merge edb72d5 ks/rebase-i-abbrev later to maint).
 
    core.abbrev settings.
    (merge edb72d5 ks/rebase-i-abbrev later to maint).
 

- * "git fetch" over a remote-helper that cannot respond to "list"
-   command could not fetch from a symbolic reference e.g. HEAD.
+ * "git fetch" over a remote-helper that cannot respond to the "list"
+   command could not fetch from a symbolic reference (e.g., HEAD).

    (merge 33cae54 mh/deref-symref-over-helper-transport later to maint).
 
  * "git push --signed" gave an incorrectly worded error message when
    the other side did not support the capability.
 
  * The "git push --signed" protocol extension did not limit what the
    (merge 33cae54 mh/deref-symref-over-helper-transport later to maint).
 
  * "git push --signed" gave an incorrectly worded error message when
    the other side did not support the capability.
 
  * The "git push --signed" protocol extension did not limit what the

-   "nonce" that is a server-chosen string can contain or how long it
-   can be, which was unnecessarily lax.  Limit both the length and the
-   alphabet to a reasonably small space that can still have enough
+   "nonce" (a server-chosen string) could contain nor how long it
+   could be, which was unnecessarily lax. Limit both the length and
+   the alphabet to a reasonably small space that can still have enough

    entropy.
    (merge afcb6ee jc/push-cert later to maint).
 
    entropy.
    (merge afcb6ee jc/push-cert later to maint).
 

- * The completion script (in contrib/) contaminated global namespace
-   and clobbered on a shell variable $x.
+ * The completion script (in contrib/) clobbered the shell variable $x
+   in the global shell namespace.

    (merge 852ff1c ma/bash-completion-leaking-x later to maint).
 
    (merge 852ff1c ma/bash-completion-leaking-x later to maint).
 

- * We didn't format an integer that wouldn't fit in "int" but in
-   "uintmax_t" correctly.
+ * We incorrectly formatted a "uintmax_t" integer that doesn't fit in
+   "int".

    (merge d306f3d jk/decimal-width-for-uintmax later to maint).
 
    (merge d306f3d jk/decimal-width-for-uintmax later to maint).
 

- * Reading configuration from a blob object, when it ends with a lone
-   CR, use to confuse the configuration parser.
+ * The configuration parser used to be confused when reading
+   configuration from a blob object that ends with a lone CR.

    (merge 1d0655c jk/config-no-ungetc-eof later to maint).
 
  * The pack bitmap support did not build with older versions of GCC.
    (merge 1d0655c jk/config-no-ungetc-eof later to maint).
 
  * The pack bitmap support did not build with older versions of GCC.


@@ -304,21 +311,21 @@ notes for details).
    (merge 1f985d6 ch/new-gpg-drops-rfc-1991 later to maint).
 
  * The credential helper for Windows (in contrib/) used to mishandle
    (merge 1f985d6 ch/new-gpg-drops-rfc-1991 later to maint).
 
  * The credential helper for Windows (in contrib/) used to mishandle

-   a user name with an at-sign in it.
+   user names that contain an at-sign.

    (merge 13d261e av/wincred-with-at-in-username-fix later to maint).
 
  * "diff-highlight" (in contrib/) used to show byte-by-byte
    (merge 13d261e av/wincred-with-at-in-username-fix later to maint).
 
  * "diff-highlight" (in contrib/) used to show byte-by-byte

-   differences, which meant that multi-byte characters can be chopped
-   in the middle.  It learned to pay attention to character boundaries
-   (assuming the UTF-8 payload).
+   differences, which could cause multi-byte characters to be chopped
+   in the middle. It learned to pay attention to character boundaries
+   (assuming UTF-8).

    (merge 8d00662 jk/colors later to maint).
 
    (merge 8d00662 jk/colors later to maint).
 

- * Longstanding configuration variable naming rules has been added to
-   the documentation.
+ * Document longstanding configuration variable naming rules in
+   CodingGuidelines.

    (merge 35840a3 jc/conf-var-doc later to maint).
 
  * An earlier workaround to squelch unhelpful deprecation warnings
    (merge 35840a3 jc/conf-var-doc later to maint).
 
  * An earlier workaround to squelch unhelpful deprecation warnings

-   from the compiler on Mac OSX unnecessarily set minimum required
+   from the compiler on OS X unnecessarily set a minimum required

    version of the OS, which the user might want to raise (or lower)
    for other reasons.
    (merge 88c03eb es/squelch-openssl-warnings-on-macosx later to maint).
    version of the OS, which the user might want to raise (or lower)
    for other reasons.
    (merge 88c03eb es/squelch-openssl-warnings-on-macosx later to maint).


@@ -335,33 +342,36 @@ notes for details).
    "path/to/submodule".
    (merge 8196e72 ps/submodule-sanitize-path-upon-add later to maint).
 
    "path/to/submodule".
    (merge 8196e72 ps/submodule-sanitize-path-upon-add later to maint).
 

- * "git merge-file" did not work correctly in a subdirectory.
+ * "git merge-file" did not work correctly when invoked in a
+   subdirectory.

    (merge 204a8ff ab/merge-file-prefix later to maint).
 
    (merge 204a8ff ab/merge-file-prefix later to maint).
 

- * "git blame" died, trying to free an uninitialized piece of memory.
+ * "git blame" could die trying to free an uninitialized piece of
+   memory.

    (merge e600592 es/blame-commit-info-fix later to maint).
 
  * "git fast-import" used to crash when it could not close and
    (merge e600592 es/blame-commit-info-fix later to maint).
 
  * "git fast-import" used to crash when it could not close and

-   conclude the resulting packfile cleanly.
+   finalize the resulting packfile cleanly.

    (merge 5e915f3 jk/fast-import-die-nicely-fix later to maint).
 
    (merge 5e915f3 jk/fast-import-die-nicely-fix later to maint).
 

- * "update-index --refresh" used to leak when an entry cannot be
-   refreshed for whatever reason.
+ * "update-index --refresh" used to leak memory when an entry could
+   not be refreshed for whatever reason.

    (merge bc1c2ca sb/plug-leak-in-make-cache-entry later to maint).
 
  * The "interpolated-path" option of "git daemon" inserted any string
    (merge bc1c2ca sb/plug-leak-in-make-cache-entry later to maint).
 
  * The "interpolated-path" option of "git daemon" inserted any string

-   client declared on the "host=" capability request without checking.
-   Sanitize and limit %H and %CH to a saner and a valid DNS name.
+   the client declared on the "host=" capability request without
+   checking. Sanitize and limit %H and %CH to a saner and a valid DNS
+   name.

    (merge b485373 jk/daemon-interpolate later to maint).
 
    (merge b485373 jk/daemon-interpolate later to maint).
 

- * "git daemon" looked up the hostname even when "%CH" and "%IP"
-   interpolations are not requested, which was unnecessary.
+ * "git daemon" unnecessarily looked up the hostname even when "%CH"
+   and "%IP" interpolations were not requested.

    (merge dc8edc8 rs/daemon-interpolate later to maint).
 
    (merge dc8edc8 rs/daemon-interpolate later to maint).
 

- * Even though we officially haven't dropped Perl 5.8 support, the
-   Getopt::Long package that came with it does not support "--no-"
-   prefix to negate a boolean option; manually add support to help
-   people with older Getopt::Long package.
+ * We relied on "--no-" prefix handling in Perl's Getopt::Long
+   package, even though that support didn't exist in Perl 5.8 (which
+   we still support). Manually add support to help people with older
+   Getopt::Long packages.

    (merge f471494 km/send-email-getopt-long-workarounds later to maint).
 
  * "git apply" was not very careful about reading from, removing,
    (merge f471494 km/send-email-getopt-long-workarounds later to maint).
 
  * "git apply" was not very careful about reading from, removing,


@@ -370,13 +380,13 @@ notes for details).
    replacement for GNU patch).
    (merge e0d201b jc/apply-beyond-symlink later to maint).
 
    replacement for GNU patch).
    (merge e0d201b jc/apply-beyond-symlink later to maint).
 

- * A breakage to git-svn around v2.2 era that triggers premature
-   closing of FileHandle has been corrected.
+ * Correct a breakage in git-svn, introduced around the v2.2 era, that
+   can cause FileHandles to be closed prematurely.

    (merge e426311 ew/svn-maint-fixes later to maint).
 
    (merge e426311 ew/svn-maint-fixes later to maint).
 

- * We did not parse username followed by literal IPv6 address in SSH
-   transport URLs, e.g. ssh://user@[2001:db8::1]:22/repo.git
-   correctly.
+ * We did not parse usernames followed by literal IPv6 addresses
+   correctly in SSH transport URLs; e.g.,
+   ssh://user@[2001:db8::1]:22/repo.git.

    (merge 6b6c5f7 tb/connect-ipv6-parse-fix later to maint).
 
  * The configuration variable 'mailinfo.scissors' was hard to
    (merge 6b6c5f7 tb/connect-ipv6-parse-fix later to maint).
 
  * The configuration variable 'mailinfo.scissors' was hard to


@@ -387,28 +397,26 @@ notes for details).
    submodule.*.update configuration was not clearly documented.
    (merge 5c31acf ms/submodule-update-config-doc later to maint).
 
    submodule.*.update configuration was not clearly documented.
    (merge 5c31acf ms/submodule-update-config-doc later to maint).
 

- * "git diff --shortstat --dirstat=changes" showed a dirstat based on
-   lines that was never asked by the end user in addition to the
-   dirstat that the user asked for.
+ * "git diff --shortstat" used together with "--dirstat=changes" or
+   "--dirstat=files" incorrectly output dirstat information twice.

    (merge ab27389 mk/diff-shortstat-dirstat-fix later to maint).
 
    (merge ab27389 mk/diff-shortstat-dirstat-fix later to maint).
 

- * "git remote add" mentioned "--tags" and "--no-tags" and was not
-   clear that fetch from the remote in the future will use the default
-   behaviour when neither is given to override it.
+ * The manpage for "git remote add" mentioned "--tags" and "--no-tags"
+   but did not explain what happens if neither option is provided.

    (merge aaba0ab mg/doc-remote-tags-or-not later to maint).
 
    (merge aaba0ab mg/doc-remote-tags-or-not later to maint).
 

- * Description given by "grep -h" for its --exclude-standard option
-   was phrased poorly.
+ * The description of "--exclude-standard option" in the output of
+   "git grep -h" was phrased poorly.

    (merge 77fdb8a nd/grep-exclude-standard-help-fix later to maint).
 
    (merge 77fdb8a nd/grep-exclude-standard-help-fix later to maint).
 

- * "git rebase -i" recently started to include the number of
-   commits in the todo list to be processed, but on a platform
-   that prepends leading whitespaces to "wc -l" output, the numbers
-   are shown with extra whitespaces that aren't necessary.
+ * "git rebase -i" recently started to include the number of commits
+   in the todo list, but that output included extraneous whitespace on
+   a platform that prepends leading whitespaces to its "wc -l" output.

    (merge 2185d3b es/rebase-i-count-todo later to maint).
 
    (merge 2185d3b es/rebase-i-count-todo later to maint).
 

- * The borrowed code in kwset API did not follow our usual convention
-   to use "unsigned char" to store values that range from 0-255.
+ * The borrowed code in the kwset API did not follow our usual
+   convention to use "unsigned char" to store values that range from
+   0-255.

    (merge 189c860 bw/kwset-use-unsigned later to maint).
 
  * A corrupt input to "git diff -M" used to cause it to segfault.
    (merge 189c860 bw/kwset-use-unsigned later to maint).
 
  * A corrupt input to "git diff -M" used to cause it to segfault.


@@ -418,9 +426,8 @@ notes for details).
    (merge 3f88c1b mg/verify-commit later to maint).
 
  * "git imap-send" learned to optionally talk with an IMAP server via
    (merge 3f88c1b mg/verify-commit later to maint).
 
  * "git imap-send" learned to optionally talk with an IMAP server via

-   libcURL; because there is no other option when Git is built with
-   NO_OPENSSL option, use that codepath by default under such
-   configuration.
+   libcURL. Because there is no other option when Git is built with
+   the NO_OPENSSL option, use libcURL by default in that case.

    (merge dcd01ea km/imap-send-libcurl-options later to maint).
 
  * "git log --decorate" did not reset colors correctly around the
    (merge dcd01ea km/imap-send-libcurl-options later to maint).
 
  * "git log --decorate" did not reset colors correctly around the


@@ -436,44 +443,45 @@ notes for details).
    transport.
    (merge 8ddf3ca jk/smart-http-hide-refs later to maint).
 
    transport.
    (merge 8ddf3ca jk/smart-http-hide-refs later to maint).
 

- * "git tag -h" used to show the "--column" and "--sort" options
-   that are about listing in a wrong section.
+ * In the "git tag -h" output, move the documentation for the
+   "--column" and "--sort" options to the "Tag listing options"
+   section.

    (merge dd059c6 jk/tag-h-column-is-a-listing-option later to maint).
 
  * "git prune" used to largely ignore broken refs when deciding which
    (merge dd059c6 jk/tag-h-column-is-a-listing-option later to maint).
 
  * "git prune" used to largely ignore broken refs when deciding which

-   objects are still being used, which could spread an existing small
-   damage and make it a larger one.
+   objects are still being used, which could cause reference
+   corruption to lead to object loss.

    (merge ea56c4e jk/prune-with-corrupt-refs later to maint).
 
    (merge ea56c4e jk/prune-with-corrupt-refs later to maint).
 

- * The split-index mode introduced at v2.3.0-rc0~41 was broken in the
+ * The split-index mode introduced in v2.3.0-rc0~41 was broken in the

    codepath to protect us against a broken reimplementation of Git
    that writes an invalid index with duplicated index entries, etc.
    (merge 03f15a7 tg/fix-check-order-with-split-index later to maint).
 
    codepath to protect us against a broken reimplementation of Git
    that writes an invalid index with duplicated index entries, etc.
    (merge 03f15a7 tg/fix-check-order-with-split-index later to maint).
 

- * "git fetch" that fetches a commit using the allow-tip-sha1-in-want
-   extension could have failed to fetch all the requested refs.
+ * "git fetch", when fetching a commit using the
+   allow-tip-sha1-in-want extension, could have failed to fetch all of
+   the requested refs.

    (merge 32d0462 jk/fetch-pack later to maint).
 
  * An failure early in the "git clone" that started creating the
    (merge 32d0462 jk/fetch-pack later to maint).
 
  * An failure early in the "git clone" that started creating the

-   working tree and repository could have resulted in some directories
-   and files left without getting cleaned up.
+   working tree and repository could have resulted in the failure to
+   clean up some directories and files.

    (merge 16eff6c jk/cleanup-failed-clone later to maint).
 
  * Recommend format-patch and send-email for those who want to submit
    patches to this project.
    (merge b25c469 jc/submitting-patches-mention-send-email later to maint).
 
    (merge 16eff6c jk/cleanup-failed-clone later to maint).
 
  * Recommend format-patch and send-email for those who want to submit
    patches to this project.
    (merge b25c469 jc/submitting-patches-mention-send-email later to maint).
 

- * Even though "git grep --quiet" is run merely to ask for the exit
-   status, we spawned the pager regardless.  Stop doing that.
+ * Do not spawn the pager when "git grep" is run with "--quiet".

    (merge c2048f0 ws/grep-quiet-no-pager later to maint).
 
  * The prompt script (in contrib/) did not show the untracked sign
    when working in a subdirectory without any untracked files.
    (merge 9bdc517 ct/prompt-untracked-fix later to maint).
 
    (merge c2048f0 ws/grep-quiet-no-pager later to maint).
 
  * The prompt script (in contrib/) did not show the untracked sign
    when working in a subdirectory without any untracked files.
    (merge 9bdc517 ct/prompt-untracked-fix later to maint).
 

- * An earlier update to the parser that disects a URL broke an
-   address, followed by a colon, followed by an empty string (instead
-   of the port number), e.g. ssh://example.com:/path/to/repo.
+ * An earlier update to the URL parser broke an address that contains
+   a colon but an empty string for the port number, like
+   ssh://example.com:/path/to/repo.

    (merge 6b6c5f7 tb/connect-ipv6-parse-fix later to maint).
 
  * Code cleanups and documentation updates.
    (merge 6b6c5f7 tb/connect-ipv6-parse-fix later to maint).
 
  * Code cleanups and documentation updates.