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doc: provide guidance on user.name format

It's a frequent misconception that the user.name variable controls authentication in some way, and as a result, beginning users frequently attempt to change it when they're having authentication troubles. Document that the convention is that this variable represents some form of a human's personal name, although that is not required. In addition, address concerns about whether Unicode is supported. Use the term "personal name" as this is likely to draw the intended contrast, be applicable across cultures which may have different naming conventions, and be easily understandable to people who do not speak English as their first language. Indicate that "some form" is conventionally used, as people may use a nickname or preferred name instead of a full legal name. Point users who may be confused about authentication to an appropriate configuration option instead. Provide a shortened form of this information in the configuration option description. Signed-off-by: brian m. carlson <sandals@crustytoothpaste.net> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>

brian m. carlson committed Jan 22, 2020 at 03:45 UTC 69e104d70e29060742c75ccdcb6653e23c65f3c3
2 files changed +12 -1
Documentation/config/user.txt
+6 -1
@@ -13,7 +13,12 @@ committer.email::
13 Also, all of these can be overridden by the `GIT_AUTHOR_NAME`,
14 `GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL`, `GIT_COMMITTER_NAME`,
15 `GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL` and `EMAIL` environment variables.
16 - See linkgit:git-commit[1] for more information.
16 ++
17 +Note that the `name` forms of these variables conventionally refer to
18 +some form of a personal name. See linkgit:git-commit[1] and the
19 +environment variables section of linkgit:git[1] for more information on
20 +these settings and the `credential.username` option if you're looking
21 +for authentication credentials instead.
22
23 user.useConfigOnly::
24 Instruct Git to avoid trying to guess defaults for `user.email`
Documentation/git-commit.txt
+6
@@ -475,6 +475,12 @@ variables, if set:
475
476 (nb "<", ">" and "\n"s are stripped)
477
478 +The author and committer names are by convention some form of a personal name
479 +(that is, the name by which other humans refer to you), although Git does not
480 +enforce or require any particular form. Arbitrary Unicode may be used, subject
481 +to the constraints listed above. This name has no effect on authentication; for
482 +that, see the `credential.username` variable in linkgit:git-config[1].
483 +
484 In case (some of) these environment variables are not set, the information
485 is taken from the configuration items `user.name` and `user.email`, or, if not
486 present, the environment variable EMAIL, or, if that is not set,