{"thread":{"id":"65109","subject":"Editing GSoC Project Ideas","startedAt":"2026-03-01T14:26:10Z","lastAt":"2026-03-04T15:56:42Z","messageCount":4,"participants":["Phillip Wood","Christian Couder","Kaartic Sivaraam"],"isPatch":false,"patchVersion":null,"patchTotal":null},"messages":[{"id":"537443","messageId":"c67066fb-f857-4738-a3a2-53108c57456a@gmail.com","threadId":"65109","inReplyTo":null,"subject":"Editing GSoC Project Ideas","fromName":"Phillip Wood","fromEmail":"phillip.wood123@gmail.com","sentAt":"2026-03-01T14:26:07Z","receivedAt":"2026-03-01T14:26:10Z","isPatch":false,"sender":{"key":"phillip.wood@dunelm.org.uk","avatar":null},"body":"I'd be very grateful if someone with write access could please update \nthe description of \"Refactoring in order to reduce Git’s global state\" \n[1] to stop recommending moving settings from `environment.c` into \n`struct repository_settings`. That struct was originally added to hold \nconfig settings that were already lazily parsed. We've had a number of \nsubmissions that move eagerly parsed config settings into that struct \nwhere an invalid config setting causes git to start dying in unexpected \nplaces when the lazy parsing fails.\n\nThe current wording of the suggested microproject does not mention any \nof the subtleties involved which sets students up to fail. A better \nsuggestion would be for them to look at what Bello Caleb Olamide has \nbeen doing in their Outreach project [2].\n\nI haven't been following Stolee's work [3] on \"git conifg list --type\" \nclosely but I think it introduces some functions to parse config \nsettings gently. Those functions might enable us to parse some config \nsettings lazy where the functions using the lazily parsed settings are \nalready set up to return a error. Doing that would require careful \nanalysis and should not be a blanket recommendation.\n\nThanks\n\nPhillip\n\n[1] https://git.github.io/SoC-2026-Ideas/\n[2] \nhttps://lore.kernel.org/48821a3848bef25c13038be8377ad73e7c17a924.1771258573.git.belkid98@gmail.com\n[3] \nhttps://lore.kernel.org/pull.2044.v3.git.1771849615.gitgitgadget@gmail.com\n"},{"id":"537484","messageId":"CAP8UFD2Q7gctwzGOe+rbgdXZSbDbV0dmM-cx4qt_d8nKi88=HA@mail.gmail.com","threadId":"65109","inReplyTo":"c67066fb-f857-4738-a3a2-53108c57456a@gmail.com","subject":"Re: Editing GSoC Project Ideas","fromName":"Christian Couder","fromEmail":"christian.couder@gmail.com","sentAt":"2026-03-01T22:18:45Z","receivedAt":"2026-03-01T22:18:57Z","isPatch":false,"sender":{"key":"christian.couder@gmail.com","avatar":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/208954?v=4"},"body":"Hi Phillip,\n\nOn Sun, Mar 1, 2026 at 3:26 PM Phillip Wood wrote:\n>\n> I'd be very grateful if someone with write access could please update\n> the description of \"Refactoring in order to reduce Git’s global state\"\n> [1] to stop recommending moving settings from `environment.c` into\n> `struct repository_settings`. That struct was originally added to hold\n> config settings that were already lazily parsed. We've had a number of\n> submissions that move eagerly parsed config settings into that struct\n> where an invalid config setting causes git to start dying in unexpected\n> places when the lazy parsing fails.\n\nYes, we should definitely update the description. Thanks for telling\nus about this.\n\n> The current wording of the suggested microproject does not mention any\n> of the subtleties involved which sets students up to fail. A better\n> suggestion would be for them to look at what Bello Caleb Olamide has\n> been doing in their Outreach project [2].\n\nYeah, I agree. We should suggest that.\n\n> I haven't been following Stolee's work [3] on \"git conifg list --type\"\n> closely but I think it introduces some functions to parse config\n> settings gently. Those functions might enable us to parse some config\n> settings lazy where the functions using the lazily parsed settings are\n> already set up to return a error. Doing that would require careful\n> analysis and should not be a blanket recommendation.\n\nI haven't followed Stolee's work either, but I will take a look.\nThanks for the pointer.\n\nIn the meantime, if you have concrete suggestions for change you can\nsubmit one or more PRs to the https://github.com/git/git.github.io/\nrepo.\n\nThanks again anyway!\n"},{"id":"537564","messageId":"8bf53293-f2cb-4780-9ece-a77f32f485d7@gmail.com","threadId":"65109","inReplyTo":"CAP8UFD2Q7gctwzGOe+rbgdXZSbDbV0dmM-cx4qt_d8nKi88=HA@mail.gmail.com","subject":"Re: Editing GSoC Project Ideas","fromName":"Kaartic Sivaraam","fromEmail":"kaartic.sivaraam@gmail.com","sentAt":"2026-03-02T18:03:13Z","receivedAt":"2026-03-02T18:03:21Z","isPatch":false,"sender":{"key":"kaartic.sivaraam@gmail.com","avatar":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/12448084?v=4"},"body":"+Cc Stolee\n\nHi Phillip,\n\nOn 02/03/26 03:48, Christian Couder wrote:\n> \n> On Sun, Mar 1, 2026 at 3:26 PM Phillip Wood wrote:\n>>\n>> I'd be very grateful if someone with write access could please update\n>> the description of \"Refactoring in order to reduce Git’s global state\"\n>> [1] to stop recommending moving settings from `environment.c` into\n>> `struct repository_settings`. That struct was originally added to hold\n>> config settings that were already lazily parsed. We've had a number of\n>> submissions that move eagerly parsed config settings into that struct\n>> where an invalid config setting causes git to start dying in unexpected\n>> places when the lazy parsing fails.\n> \n> Yes, we should definitely update the description. Thanks for telling\n> us about this.\n>\n\nIndeed. Thank you for the suggestion. We've tried to tweak the \ndescription accordingly. Kindly check and let us know if it still needs \nany tweaks:\n\n https://git.github.io/SoC-2026-Ideas/\n\n>> I haven't been following Stolee's work [3] on \"git conifg list --type\"\n>> closely but I think it introduces some functions to parse config\n>> settings gently. Those functions might enable us to parse some config\n>> settings lazy where the functions using the lazily parsed settings are\n>> already set up to return a error. Doing that would require careful\n>> analysis and should not be a blanket recommendation.\n> \n> I haven't followed Stolee's work either, but I will take a look.\n> Thanks for the pointer.\n>\n\nI've not yet mentioned stolee's work in the tweak as it is a work in \nprogress. I'll leave it for a future enhancement in case it is really \nworth mentioning the same.\n\n> In the meantime, if you have concrete suggestions for change you can\n> submit one or more PRs to the https://github.com/git/git.github.io/\n> repo.\n> \n\nJust to add to this, any patches via mailing-list are also welcome if \nthat's preferred :-)\n\n--\nSivaraam\n\n"},{"id":"537788","messageId":"28ebbc8f-4b3c-4d2a-b9f4-046de95923ed@gmail.com","threadId":"65109","inReplyTo":"8bf53293-f2cb-4780-9ece-a77f32f485d7@gmail.com","subject":"Re: Editing GSoC Project Ideas","fromName":"Phillip Wood","fromEmail":"phillip.wood123@gmail.com","sentAt":"2026-03-04T15:56:33Z","receivedAt":"2026-03-04T15:56:42Z","isPatch":false,"sender":{"key":"phillip.wood@dunelm.org.uk","avatar":null},"body":"Hi Kaartic\n\nOn 02/03/2026 18:03, Kaartic Sivaraam wrote:\n> +Cc Stolee\n> \n> Hi Phillip,\n> \n> On 02/03/26 03:48, Christian Couder wrote:\n>>\n>> On Sun, Mar 1, 2026 at 3:26 PM Phillip Wood \n>> wrote:\n>>>\n>>> I'd be very grateful if someone with write access could please update\n>>> the description of \"Refactoring in order to reduce Git’s global state\"\n>>> [1] to stop recommending moving settings from `environment.c` into\n>>> `struct repository_settings`. That struct was originally added to hold\n>>> config settings that were already lazily parsed. We've had a number of\n>>> submissions that move eagerly parsed config settings into that struct\n>>> where an invalid config setting causes git to start dying in unexpected\n>>> places when the lazy parsing fails.\n>>\n>> Yes, we should definitely update the description. Thanks for telling\n>> us about this.\n>>\n> \n> Indeed. Thank you for the suggestion. We've tried to tweak the \n> description accordingly. Kindly check and let us know if it still needs \n> any tweaks:\n> \n>   https://git.github.io/SoC-2026-Ideas/\n\nThanks for updating that, it is certainly much clearer.\n\n>>> I haven't been following Stolee's work [3] on \"git conifg list --type\"\n>>> closely but I think it introduces some functions to parse config\n>>> settings gently. Those functions might enable us to parse some config\n>>> settings lazy where the functions using the lazily parsed settings are\n>>> already set up to return a error. Doing that would require careful\n>>> analysis and should not be a blanket recommendation.\n>>\n>> I haven't followed Stolee's work either, but I will take a look.\n>> Thanks for the pointer.\n>>\n> \n> I've not yet mentioned stolee's work in the tweak as it is a work in \n> progress. I'll leave it for a future enhancement in case it is really \n> worth mentioning the same.\n\nThat sounds sensible as none of us have actually thought through if it \nis useful yet.\n\n>> In the meantime, if you have concrete suggestions for change you can\n>> submit one or more PRs to the https://github.com/git/git.github.io/\n>> repo.\n>>\n> \n> Just to add to this, any patches via mailing-list are also welcome if \n> that's preferred :-)\n\nThanks I'll bear that in mind\n\nPhillip\n\n"}]}