push: don't imply that integration is always required before pushing

In a narrow but common case, the user is the only author of a branch and
doesn't mind overwriting the corresponding branch on the remote. This
workflow is especially common on GitHub, GitLab, and Gerrit, which keep
a permanent record of every version of a branch that is pushed while a
pull request is open for that branch. On those platforms, force-pushing
is encouraged and is analogous to emailing a new version of a patchset.

When giving advice about divergent branches, tell the user about
`git pull`, but don't unconditionally instruct the user to do it. A less
prescriptive message will help prevent users from thinking that they are
required to create an integrated history instead of simply replacing the
previous history. Also, don't put `git pull` in an awkward
parenthetical, because `git pull` can always be used to reconcile
branches and is the normal way to do so.

Due to the difficulty of knowing which command for force-pushing is best
suited to the user's situation, no specific advice is given about
force-pushing. Instead, the user is directed to the Git documentation to
read about possible ways forward that do not involve integration.

Signed-off-by: Alex Henrie <alexhenrie24@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>

diff --git a/builtin/push.c b/builtin/push.c
index 6f8a8dc7117cb138c9bf4da9fa673e25a28bc102..61a251c50aa4eb31010ca986b48e4cc71e517166 100644 (file)
--- a/builtin/push.c
+++ b/builtin/push.c
@@ -301,21 +301,21 @@ static void setup_default_push_refspecs(int *flags, struct remote *remote)
 
 static const char message_advice_pull_before_push[] =
        N_("Updates were rejected because the tip of your current branch is behind\n"
-          "its remote counterpart. Integrate the remote changes (e.g.\n"
-          "'git pull ...') before pushing again.\n"
+          "its remote counterpart. If you want to integrate the remote changes,\n"
+          "use 'git pull' before pushing again.\n"
           "See the 'Note about fast-forwards' in 'git push --help' for details.");
 
 static const char message_advice_checkout_pull_push[] =
        N_("Updates were rejected because a pushed branch tip is behind its remote\n"
-          "counterpart. Check out this branch and integrate the remote changes\n"
-          "(e.g. 'git pull ...') before pushing again.\n"
+          "counterpart. If you want to integrate the remote changes, use 'git pull'\n"
+          "before pushing again.\n"
           "See the 'Note about fast-forwards' in 'git push --help' for details.");
 
 static const char message_advice_ref_fetch_first[] =
-       N_("Updates were rejected because the remote contains work that you do\n"
-          "not have locally. This is usually caused by another repository pushing\n"
-          "to the same ref. You may want to first integrate the remote changes\n"
-          "(e.g., 'git pull ...') before pushing again.\n"
+       N_("Updates were rejected because the remote contains work that you do not\n"
+          "have locally. This is usually caused by another repository pushing to\n"
+          "the same ref. If you want to integrate the remote changes, use\n"
+          "'git pull' before pushing again.\n"
           "See the 'Note about fast-forwards' in 'git push --help' for details.");
 
 static const char message_advice_ref_already_exists[] =
@@ -327,10 +327,10 @@ static const char message_advice_ref_needs_force[] =
           "without using the '--force' option.\n");
 
 static const char message_advice_ref_needs_update[] =
-       N_("Updates were rejected because the tip of the remote-tracking\n"
-          "branch has been updated since the last checkout. You may want\n"
-          "to integrate those changes locally (e.g., 'git pull ...')\n"
-          "before forcing an update.\n");
+       N_("Updates were rejected because the tip of the remote-tracking branch has\n"
+          "been updated since the last checkout. If you want to integrate the\n"
+          "remote changes, use 'git pull' before pushing again.\n"
+          "See the 'Note about fast-forwards' in 'git push --help' for details.");
 
 static void advise_pull_before_push(void)
 {