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[PATCH v2 3/4] completion: avoid misleading completions in cone mode

From
Elijah Newren via GitGitGadget <gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
Date
Nov 26, 2023, 07:51 UTC
Message-ID
<1cbbcd9097c96b7646fb0c756c3964413f2a021f.1700985086.git.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To
<pull.1349.v2.git.1700985086.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
From: Elijah Newren <newren@gmail.com>

The "set" and "add" subcommands of "sparse-checkout", when in cone mode, should only complete on directories. For bash_completion in general, when no completions are returned for any subcommands, it will often fall back to standard completion of files and directories as a substitute. That is not helpful here. Since we have already looked for all valid completions, if none are found then falling back to standard bash file and directory completion is at best actively misleading. In fact, there are three different ways it can be actively misleading. Add a long comment in the code about how that fallback behavior can deceive, and disable the fallback by returning a fake result as the sole completion.

Signed-off-by: Elijah Newren <newren@gmail.com>
---
 contrib/completion/git-completion.bash | 20 ++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 20 insertions(+)
diff --git a/contrib/completion/git-completion.bash b/contrib/completion/git-completion.bash
index 7aa66c19ede..c614e5d4f07 100644
--- a/contrib/completion/git-completion.bash
+++ b/contrib/completion/git-completion.bash
@@ -3090,6 +3090,26 @@ __gitcomp_directories ()
 		# No possible further completions any deeper, so assume we're at
 		# a leaf directory and just consider it complete
 		__gitcomp_direct_append "$cur "
+	elif [[ $_found == 0 ]]; then
+		# No possible completions found.  Avoid falling back to
+		# bash's default file and directory completion, because all
+		# valid completions have already been searched and the
+		# fallbacks can do nothing but mislead.  In fact, they can
+		# mislead in three different ways:
+		#    1) Fallback file completion makes no sense when asking
+		#       for directory completions, as this function does.
+		#    2) Fallback directory completion is bad because
+		#       e.g. "/pro" is invalid and should NOT complete to
+		#       "/proc".
+		#    3) Fallback file/directory completion only completes
+		#       on paths that exist in the current working tree,
+		#       i.e. which are *already* part of their
+		#       sparse-checkout.  Thus, normal file and directory
+		#       completion is always useless for "git
+		#       sparse-checkout add" and is also probelmatic for
+		#       "git sparse-checkout set" unless using it to
+		#       strictly narrow the checkout.
+		COMPREPLY=( "" )
 	fi
 }
 
-- 
gitgitgadget
Previous: Elijah Newren via GitGitGadgetNext: Elijah Newren via GitGitGadget
Message 15 of 22 in “Sparse checkout completion fixes”
  1. 0/4 Sparse checkout completion fixesElijah Newren via GitGitGadget, Nov 23, 2023
  2. 1/4 completion: squelch stray errors in sparse-checkout completionElijah Newren via GitGitGadget, Nov 23, 2023
  3. SZEDER GáborNov 24, 2023
  4. Elijah NewrenNov 24, 2023
  5. 2/4 completion: fix logic for determining whether cone mode is activeElijah Newren via GitGitGadget, Nov 23, 2023
  6. 3/4 completion: avoid misleading completions in cone modeElijah Newren via GitGitGadget, Nov 23, 2023
  7. 4/4 completion: avoid user confusion in non-cone modeElijah Newren via GitGitGadget, Nov 23, 2023
  8. Junio C HamanoNov 24, 2023
  9. Elijah NewrenNov 24, 2023
  10. Junio C HamanoNov 27, 2023
  11. Elijah NewrenDec 3, 2023
  12. 0/4 Sparse checkout completion fixesElijah Newren via GitGitGadget, Nov 26, 2023
  13. 1/4 completion: squelch stray errors in sparse-checkout completionElijah Newren via GitGitGadget, Nov 26, 2023
  14. 2/4 completion: fix logic for determining whether cone mode is activeElijah Newren via GitGitGadget, Nov 26, 2023
  15. 3/4 completion: avoid misleading completions in cone modeElijah Newren via GitGitGadget, Nov 26, 2023
  16. 4/4 completion: avoid user confusion in non-cone modeElijah Newren via GitGitGadget, Nov 26, 2023
  17. 0/4 Sparse checkout completion fixesElijah Newren via GitGitGadget, Dec 3, 2023
  18. 1/4 completion: squelch stray errors in sparse-checkout completionElijah Newren via GitGitGadget, Dec 3, 2023
  19. 2/4 completion: fix logic for determining whether cone mode is activeElijah Newren via GitGitGadget, Dec 3, 2023
  20. 3/4 completion: avoid misleading completions in cone modeElijah Newren via GitGitGadget, Dec 3, 2023
  21. 4/4 completion: avoid user confusion in non-cone modeElijah Newren via GitGitGadget, Dec 3, 2023
  22. Junio C HamanoDec 3, 2023

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