describe-doc: clarify default length of abbreviation

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>

diff --git a/Documentation/git-describe.txt b/Documentation/git-describe.txt
index a88f6ae2c6e785d765eab1b57dd0de8d77dc85fc..c6a79c2a0f29ccc1f87c331382b484ab9a1c5a62 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/git-describe.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-describe.txt
@@ -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>::
@@ -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.