From 34f07c7f6901a415c7ec0da4754ef5dd4c3e59d1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: wim glenn <hey@wimglenn.com>
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2022 22:45:48 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] makes https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/cli/pip_config/ a bit
 easier to understand

---
 news/11074.doc.rst                          |  1 +
 src/pip/_internal/commands/configuration.py | 18 ++++++++++++------
 2 files changed, 13 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 news/11074.doc.rst

diff --git a/news/11074.doc.rst b/news/11074.doc.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..8353f0ac7ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/11074.doc.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Improved usefulness of ``pip config --help`` output.
diff --git a/src/pip/_internal/commands/configuration.py b/src/pip/_internal/commands/configuration.py
index 941ee87b5e0..e3837325986 100644
--- a/src/pip/_internal/commands/configuration.py
+++ b/src/pip/_internal/commands/configuration.py
@@ -27,11 +27,17 @@ class ConfigurationCommand(Command):
 
     - list: List the active configuration (or from the file specified)
     - edit: Edit the configuration file in an editor
-    - get: Get the value associated with name
-    - set: Set the name=value
-    - unset: Unset the value associated with name
+    - get: Get the value associated with command.option
+    - set: Set the command.option=value
+    - unset: Unset the value associated with command.option
     - debug: List the configuration files and values defined under them
 
+    Configuration keys should be dot separated command and option name,
+    with the special prefix "global" affecting any command. For example,
+    "pip config set global.index-url https://example.org/" would configure
+    the index url for all commands, but "pip config set download.timeout 10"
+    would configure a 10 second timeout only for "pip download" commands.
+
     If none of --user, --global and --site are passed, a virtual
     environment configuration file is used if one is active and the file
     exists. Otherwise, all modifications happen to the user file by
@@ -43,9 +49,9 @@ class ConfigurationCommand(Command):
         %prog [<file-option>] list
         %prog [<file-option>] [--editor <editor-path>] edit
 
-        %prog [<file-option>] get name
-        %prog [<file-option>] set name value
-        %prog [<file-option>] unset name
+        %prog [<file-option>] get command.option
+        %prog [<file-option>] set command.option value
+        %prog [<file-option>] unset command.option
         %prog [<file-option>] debug
     """