$ man git-format-patch
[...]
OPTIONS
       -p     Generate patch (see section on generating patches)

       -u     Synonym for "-p".
[...]
$

1. Saying "-p generates patch" suggests that without -p git-format-patch
   will generate something else. It's rather confusing.

2. Where is this "section on generating patches"? I thought it could be
   in man git-diff, but it is not.

-- 
Sergei.
-

Hi,


As you can easily see from Documentation/git-format-patch.txt, this part 
is generated from the file Documentation/diff-options.txt.

Hth,
Dscho
-

Sorry, I did saw that, but it doesn't change anything.

1. As a user reading man git-format-patch, where do I find this "section
   on generating patches"? In another man-page? In the html
   documentation? On the moon?

2. I can't find "section on generating patches" in the man git-diff
   either, and I did say this in the part of my original message you've
   snipped.

So the main question remains: could you please point me to the exact
place in 'Documentation/' directory where this "section on generating
patches" resides?

-- 
Sergei.
-

I believe the section in question is in Documentation/diff-format.txt

But you've basically found a documentation bug. Someone invoking "man  
git-format-patch" shouldn't be expected to have to grep the source  
tree in order to find out where the referenced documentation is.  
Especially given that he/she may not even have the source.

Cheers,
Wincent




-

Ah, thank you! Now, diff-format.txt is included by
git-diff-index/git-diff-files/git-diff-tree, but not by git-diff and
git-format-patch. Do you think it is the right thing for the latter two
to include diff-format as well?

-- 
Sergei.
-