The "-l" option is short for "--create-reflog". This has
caused much confusion over the years. Most people expect it
to work as "--list", because that would match the other
"mode" options like -d/--delete and -m/--move, as well as
the similar -l/--list option of git-tag.

Adding to the confusion, using "-l" _appears_ to work as
"--list" in some cases:

  $ git branch -l
  * master

because the branch command defaults to listing (so even
trying to specify --list in the command above is redundant).
But that may bite the user later when they add a pattern,
like:

  $ git branch -l foo

which does not return an empty list, but in fact creates a
new branch (with a reflog, naturally) called "foo".

It's also probably quite uncommon for people to actually use
"-l" to create a reflog. Since 0bee591869 (Enable reflogs by
default in any repository with a working directory.,
2006-12-14), this is the default in non-bare repositories.
So it's rather unfortunate that the feature squats on the
short-and-sweet "-l" (which was only added in 3a4b3f269c
(Create/delete branch ref logs., 2006-05-19), meaning there
were only 7 months where it was actually useful).

Let's deprecate "-l" in hopes of eventually dropping it
(it's a little too soon to repurpose it to "--list", but we
may even do that eventually).

Signed-off-by: Jeff King <p...@peff.net>
---
 Documentation/git-branch.txt |  3 ++-
 builtin/branch.c             | 17 ++++++++++++++++-
 2 files changed, 18 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/git-branch.txt b/Documentation/git-branch.txt
index b3084c99c1..b959df1cbf 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-branch.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-branch.txt
@@ -91,7 +91,6 @@ OPTIONS
 -D::
        Shortcut for `--delete --force`.
 
--l::
 --create-reflog::
        Create the branch's reflog.  This activates recording of
        all changes made to the branch ref, enabling use of date
@@ -101,6 +100,8 @@ OPTIONS
        The negated form `--no-create-reflog` only overrides an earlier
        `--create-reflog`, but currently does not negate the setting of
        `core.logAllRefUpdates`.
++
+The `-l` option is a deprecated synonym for `--create-reflog`.
 
 -f::
 --force::
diff --git a/builtin/branch.c b/builtin/branch.c
index 6d0cea9d4b..e50a5a1680 100644
--- a/builtin/branch.c
+++ b/builtin/branch.c
@@ -570,6 +570,15 @@ static int edit_branch_description(const char *branch_name)
        return 0;
 }
 
+static int deprecated_reflog_option_cb(const struct option *opt,
+                                      const char *arg, int unset)
+{
+       warning("the '-l' alias for '--create-reflog' is deprecated;");
+       warning("it will be removed in a future version of Git");
+       *(int *)opt->value = !unset;
+       return 0;
+}
+
 int cmd_branch(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 {
        int delete = 0, rename = 0, copy = 0, force = 0, list = 0;
@@ -612,7 +621,13 @@ int cmd_branch(int argc, const char **argv, const char 
*prefix)
                OPT_BIT('c', "copy", &copy, N_("copy a branch and its reflog"), 
1),
                OPT_BIT('C', NULL, &copy, N_("copy a branch, even if target 
exists"), 2),
                OPT_BOOL(0, "list", &list, N_("list branch names")),
-               OPT_BOOL('l', "create-reflog", &reflog, N_("create the branch's 
reflog")),
+               OPT_BOOL(0, "create-reflog", &reflog, N_("create the branch's 
reflog")),
+               {
+                       OPTION_CALLBACK, 'l', NULL, &reflog, NULL,
+                       N_("deprecated synonym for --create-reflog"),
+                       PARSE_OPT_NOARG | PARSE_OPT_HIDDEN,
+                       deprecated_reflog_option_cb
+               },
                OPT_BOOL(0, "edit-description", &edit_description,
                         N_("edit the description for the branch")),
                OPT__FORCE(&force, N_("force creation, move/rename, deletion"), 
PARSE_OPT_NOCOMPLETE),
-- 
2.17.0.rc1.509.g060626845b

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