Re: [PATCH] git-svn: handle leading/trailing whitespace from svnsync revprops

> Eric Wong <normalperson@yhbt.net> writes:
> > diff --git a/git-svn.perl b/git-svn.perl
> > index 3308fe1..f40ad2c 100755
> > --- a/git-svn.perl
> > +++ b/git-svn.perl
> > @@ -1758,10 +1758,16 @@ sub svnsync {
> >  	# see if we have it in our config, first:
> >  	eval {
> >  		my $section = "svn-remote.$self->{repo_id}";
> > -		$svnsync = {
> > -		  url => tmp_config('--get', "$section.svnsync-url"),
> > -		  uuid => tmp_config('--get', "$section.svnsync-uuid"),
> > -		}
> > +
> > +	        my $url = tmp_config('--get', "$section.svnsync-url");
> > +		($url) = ($url =~ m{^([a-z\+]+://\S+)$}) or
> > +	           die "doesn't look right - svn:sync-from-url is '$url'\n";
> 
> When I checked tmp_config(), I thought that it was returning the
> first element (taking the output of "config --get" as a
> LF-terminated list) when called in list context, so this would
> give the correct sync-url after stripping the trailing LF for
> Dennis's case.  The first assignment looks fine, but the second
> one looks very funny.
> 
> Is it only me who finds that
> 
> 	($var) = ($var =~ m{^(any regexp)$}) or die "message"
> 
> is extremely a roundabout and hard-to-read way to say:
> 
> 	if ($var !~ m{^(the same regexp)$} {
>         	die "message";
> 	}
> 
> which is much easier to read?

> I said the first one looks fine, but actually I really _hate_
> Perl subs that use wantarray and return one element in scalar
> context, and return a list in list context.
> 
> This forces the programmer who calls the sub to read the code of
> the sub and know that it uses this unusual calling convention.
> It forbids them to rely on their common-sense acquired from
> experience while coding in Perl, that most functions do not do
> that, and a usual sub that is capable of returning a list in a
> list context you can find out the number of elemenets, the first
> element, and the first few elements by using:
> 
> 	sub returns_list {
>         	my @a = qw(a b c);
>                 return @a;
> 	}
> 
> 	my $number_of_elems = returns_list();
> 	my ($first_element) = returns_list();
> 	my ($first, $second) = returns_list();
> 
> IOW, writing
> 
> 	sub returns_funny {
>         	my @a = qw(a b c);
>                 return wantarray ? @a : $a[0];
> 	}
> 
> may make you feel as if you have become a power-coder, and might
> even give you a false sense that some parts of your code can
> become simpler thanks to that, because you can now write:
> 
> 	my $first_element = returns_list();
> 
> i.e. you did not have to type WHOLE TWO LETTERS ( and )!
> 
> But in the longer run, when you want/need other people to help
> maintaining such a code, you create unnecessary burden on them.