doc: show usage of branch description

The branch description will be included in 'git format-patch --cover-letter' and in 'git pull-request' emails. It can also be used in the automatic merge message. Tell the reader. While here, clarify that the description may be a multi-line explanation of the purpose of the branch's patch series. Signed-off-by: Philip Oakley <philipoakley@iee.org> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>

Philip Oakley committed Sep 14, 2015 at 15:10 UTC 561d2b7934caaa5e0917979da82ca59b17a4e5f9
4 files changed +7 -4
Documentation/git-branch.txt
+3 -1
@@ -193,7 +193,9 @@ start-point is either a local or remote-tracking branch.
193
194 --edit-description::
195 Open an editor and edit the text to explain what the branch is
196 - for, to be used by various other commands (e.g. `request-pull`).
196 + for, to be used by various other commands (e.g. `format-patch`,
197 + `request-pull`, and `merge` (if enabled)). Multi-line explanations
198 + may be used.
199
200 --contains [<commit>]::
201 Only list branches which contain the specified commit (HEAD
Documentation/git-format-patch.txt
+1 -1
@@ -213,7 +213,7 @@ feeding the result to `git send-email`.
213
214 --[no-]cover-letter::
215 In addition to the patches, generate a cover letter file
216 - containing the shortlog and the overall diffstat. You can
216 + containing the branch description, shortlog and the overall diffstat. You can
217 fill in a description in the file before sending it out.
218
219 --notes[=<ref>]::
Documentation/git-merge.txt
+1 -1
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ will be appended to the specified message.
78 +
79 The 'git fmt-merge-msg' command can be
80 used to give a good default for automated 'git merge'
81 -invocations.
81 +invocations. The automated message can include the branch description.
82
83 --[no-]rerere-autoupdate::
84 Allow the rerere mechanism to update the index with the
Documentation/git-request-pull.txt
+2 -1
@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@ DESCRIPTION
14 -----------
15
16 Generate a request asking your upstream project to pull changes into
17 -their tree. The request, printed to the standard output, summarizes
17 +their tree. The request, printed to the standard output,
18 +begins with the branch description, summarizes
19 the changes and indicates from where they can be pulled.
20
21 The upstream project is expected to have the commit named by