Re: git-bisect annoyances
- From
Christian Couder <chriscool@tuxfamily.org>
- Date
- Apr 11, 2008, 05:41 UTC
- Message-ID
- <200804110741.40732.chriscool@tuxfamily.org>
- In-Reply-To
- <20080410114739.GA15229@elte.hu>
Le jeudi 10 avril 2008, Ingo Molnar a écrit :
> Ok, just in case i dont bore people with "stupid user" experiences and > logs of sessions of confusion, here's another session i just had with > Git.
Thanks, this is very much appreciated.
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> This time it's with our good friend git-bisect - which i thought to > master pretty well and which i already used successfully to bisect > kernel bugs up to a hundred times already (at least). > > The 'v' repository is a vanilla clone of Linus's upstream linux-2.6.git > kernel tree with no other modifications done to it. > > dione:~> git-clone v linux-tmp4 > Initialized empty Git repository in /home/mingo/linux-tmp4/.git/ > 0 blocks > Checking out files: 100% (23809/23809), done. > dione:~> cd linux-tmp4/ > dione:~/linux-tmp4> ls > COPYING MAINTAINERS arch fs kernel samples usr > CREDITS Makefile block include lib scripts virt > Documentation README crypto init mm security > Kbuild REPORTING-BUGS drivers ipc net sound > > # > # ok, so far so good. done this a thousand times before. > # > # Now lets check out v2.6.24 and check whether the bug i'm interested > # in triggers on v2.6.24. I dont create an extra branch for it, because > # this is pure temporary work, i use a plain git-checkout as a > # throwaway temporary branch: > # > > dione:~/linux-tmp4> git-checkout v2.6.24 > Note: moving to "v2.6.24" which isn't a local branch > If you want to create a new branch from this checkout, you may do so > (now or later) by using -b with the checkout command again. Example: > git checkout -b <new_branch_name> > HEAD is now at 4991408... Linux 2.6.24 > > # > # i build that kernel and boot it - the bug doesnt trigger - good. > # We've got all prerequisites for a bisection session - a 'good' kernel > # [v2.6.24] and a 'bad' kernel [HEAD]. > # > # > > dione:~/linux-tmp4> git-bisect start > fatal: ref HEAD is not a symbolic ref > won't bisect on seeked tree
Yeah, it seems that this is a left over from cogito. There has been some work on it lately but it seems not enough. See:
http://git.kernel.org/?p=git/git.git;a=commitdiff;h=0f497e75f05cdf0c0c1278eaba898cda6f118d71
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> # > # Hm. It's not a symbolic ref, and git-bisect just wont do it. Ok but > # then what, and what can the user do to progress? It should be rather > # clear to Git what i'm intending to do here. I'm not interested in > # HEAD at all, i want to start bisection and i'll feed the good/bad > # points to git-bisect - once it lets me do that. > # > # Ok, lets see where we are: > # > > dione:~/linux-tmp4> git-branch -a > * (no branch) > master > origin/HEAD > origin/master > origin/new_branch > > # > # So perhaps this new, unnamed branch is what is causing the trouble? > # Lets try a specific branch then: > # > > dione:~/linux-tmp4> git-checkout master > Previous HEAD position was 4991408... Linux 2.6.24 > Switched to branch "master" > > dione:~/linux-tmp4> git-bisect start > won't bisect on seeked tree
This seems to work for me with git 1.5.5 on the git tree:
$ git checkout master Switched to branch "master" Your branch is ahead of the tracked remote branch 'origin/master' by 4 commits. $ git bisect start $
What git version do you have ?
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> # > # Hm, still no go. Lets see what git-bisect has to offer: > # > > dione:~/linux-tmp4> git-bisect > Usage: /usr/bin/git-bisect > [start|bad|good|skip|next|reset|visualize|replay|log|run] > > # > # Ah, it has a reset thing, lets try it: > # > > dione:~/linux-tmp4> git-bisect reset > Note: moving to "49914084e797530d9baaf51df9eda77babc98fa8" which isn't a > local branch > If you want to create a new branch from this checkout, you may do so > (now or later) by using -b with the checkout command again. Example: > git checkout -b <new_branch_name> > HEAD is now at 4991408... Linux 2.6.24 > > dione:~/linux-tmp4> git-bisect start > fatal: ref HEAD is not a symbolic ref
This probably come from previous failures.
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> # > # hm, still no go. I'm not interested in a new branch at all, but i > # want to bisect, so lets try what was suggested then and name the > # branch: > # > > dione:~/linux-tmp4> git-checkout -b tmp > Switched to a new branch "tmp" > > # > # Looks good so far - can i bisect? > # > > dione:~/linux-tmp4> git-bisect start > won't bisect on seeked tree
This too.
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> # > # Hm, still no go. Ok, lets forget this whole temporary branch thing > # that looked good and try a more pristine state: > # > > dione:~/linux-tmp4> git-checkout -b tmp2 master > Previous HEAD position was 4991408... Linux 2.6.24 > Switched to a new branch "tmp2" > > dione:~/linux-tmp4> git-bisect start > > # > # Halleluya! While i have typed much more than i wanted, and ended up > # with two extra branches that i have to throw away, it seems to be > # working! Although the command printing nothing is not really > # reassuring - did it really do something? > # > # Ok, lets get the bisection going now: > # > > dione:~/linux-tmp4> git-bisect good v2.6.24 bad HEAD > dione:~/linux-tmp4>
This is really bad, because, as you can see from the man page or "git bisect -h" (see also the patch I just sent), "git bisect good" can take many known good revisions:
git bisect good [<rev>...]
mark <rev>... known-good revisions.So you marked also "bad" and HEAD as "good".
This is really strange, because here I get for example:
$ git-bisect good bad HEAD Bad rev input: bad HEAD
So you must have something tagged as "bad" or have a "bad" branch, and that's why the command works for you but does the wrong thing.
If you wanted to do it all in one command you could have done:
$ git bisect start HEAD v2.6.24
That would have marked HEAD as "bad" and v2.6.24 as "good":
git bisect start [<bad> [<good>...]] [--] [<pathspec>...]
reset bisect state and start bisection.> # > # Hm, no indication about what happened, and no "middle" bisection > # point offered. No way to figure out what's wrong.
Right, we probably need to have at look at this more closely, maybe warn if a "bad" or a "good" tag or branch exists or something like that.
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> # Ok, backtrack one more step - something's wrong here. Lets start > # again with a completely new tree: > # > > dione:~> git-clone v linux-tmp5 > Initialized empty Git repository in /home/mingo/linux-tmp5/.git/ > 0 blocks > Checking out files: 100% (23809/23809), done. > dione:~> cd linux-tmp5/ > dione:~/linux-tmp5> git-checkout -b tmp master > Switched to a new branch "tmp" > dione:~/linux-tmp5> git-bisect start good v2.6.24
This marked "good" as "bad" and "v2.6.24" as "good".
Again this should "work" only if you have a "good" tag or branch in your repo.
> dione:~/linux-tmp5> cd > dione:~> cd linux-tmp5/ > dione:~/linux-tmp5> git-bisect start good v2.6.24 bad master
This marked "good" as "bad", and "v2.6.24", "bad" and "master" as "good".
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> dione:~/linux-tmp5> > > # > # Hm, nothing. Ho hum. Do i suck this much? One more tree than i wanted > # and three more branches that i wanted and still no bisection? > # > # Ah, i must have switched the arguments? > # > > dione:~/linux-tmp5> git-bisect start v2.6.24 good master bad > won't bisect on seeked tree
This marked "v2.6.24" as "bad", and "good", "master" and "bad" as "good". So it's wrong too.
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> # > # Nope. > # > > dione:~/linux-tmp5> git-bisect visualize > You need to give me at least one good and one bad revisions. > (You can use "git bisect bad" and "git bisect good" for that.) > dione:~/linux-tmp5> git bisect bad HEAD > dione:~/linux-tmp5> git bisect good v2.6.24 > Bisecting: -1 revisions left to test after this > [eb36f4fc019835cecf0788907f6cab774508087b] fix oops on rmmod capidrv
That's much better but you didn't "reset" or "start" again before giving it correctly the good and bad revs, so there are still some wrong left over from your previous start above.
> # > # -1 revisions left to test? Ouch ... > # > # But why did "git bisect" make a difference to "git-bisect" ?
It should not have made any difference.
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> # Lets see whether it's all from the same package: > # > > dione:~> type git > git is hashed (/usr/bin/git) > dione:~> type git-bisect > git-bisect is hashed (/usr/bin/git-bisect) > dione:~> rpm -qf /usr/bin/git-bisect > git-core-1.5.4.3-2.fc8 > dione:~> rpm -qf /usr/bin/git > git-core-1.5.4.3-2.fc8 > > # > # Yup, it is. 20 minutes spent on this already and no bisection. > # I really suck today :-) > # > > # > # So i started suspecting my kernel and my hardware. Are timestamps > # maybe messed up and confusing Git? Since the commands dont return > # success nor failure i was unsure what Git thought about my attempts. > # > # So i rebooted the box and created a new tree. No go. > # > > # > # Just to be sure i also waited through a full git-fsck, only 10 > # minutes runtime: > # > > dione:~/linux-tmp4> git-fsck --full --strict > dangling commit f4be31ec9690cfe6e94fcbed6ae60a6a38b3c3ed > dione:~/linux-tmp4> > > # > # [ Sidenote #1: git-fsck is such a heavy operation that it should > # really return some indication by default that it's all appears OK. > # A user typically only runs git-fsck if in deep doubt about some > # git detail - so while silence is often good for a comment, it's > # counter-intuitive here. Especially since the "breakage" of > # git-bisect is "silence" too, so the user is unable to trust these > # different modal forms of silence and gets frustrated ... ] > #
I cannot comment on "git fsck" but I think it has nothing to do with bisect "breakages".
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> # > # [ Sidenote #2: git-fsck --full --strict is slow and we always knew > # this - it's a last-ditch thing for the truly hopeless. But this is > # a 3.2 GHz quad box that is only 25% utilized during git-fsck but > # takes 10 minutes to finish. Presumably git-fsck could run multiple > # threads/tasks to be sped up? Making the slowest possible operation > # of a tool significantly faster is a good way to reduce user > # frustration IMO. A user is already frustrated enough when he tries > # --full --strict. And i _bet_ a parallel version of git-fsck would > # also be an fantastic bad-RAM checker ;-) ] > # > > # > # Then, many other silly attempts later and at linux-tmp8, by chance - > # 30 minutes down the line - i got it going: > # > # I updated my Linus tree on the (rather pathetic) theory that maybe a > # specific layout of the repo breaks bisection - and that seems to have > # made a difference: > # > > dione:~/linux-tmp8> git-checkout -b tmp2 master > Switched to a new branch "tmp2" > dione:~/linux-tmp8> git-bisect start > won't bisect on seeked tree > dione:~/linux-tmp8> git-bisect reset > Switched to branch "master" > dione:~/linux-tmp8> git-bisect bad master > You need to start by "git bisect start" > Do you want me to do it for you [Y/n]? Y > dione:~/linux-tmp8> git-bisect good v2.6.24 > Bisecting: 6270 revisions left to test after this > [4814bdbd590e835ecec2d5e505165ec1c19796b2] [NETNS]: Lookup in FIB > semantic hashes taking into account the namespace. > > # > # But i dont understand why.
I hope you understand better now.
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> # Before updating Linus's tree i saved away > # the commit ID that showed the breakage, just in case it matters: > # > > commit 7180c4c9e09888db0a188f729c96c6d7bd61fa83 > Merge: 4c3b01f... 869ab51... > Author: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> > Date: Mon Apr 7 19:15:35 2008 -0700 > > # > # .. but couldnt reproduce this weirdness with specifically checking > # out 7180c4c9e09888db0a188f729c96c6d7bd61fa83. But i still have the > # linux-tmp4 repository that shows this behavior reliably. It's all > # quite weird. Either this repo is corrupted in some special way, or my > # hardware has some really strange runtime failure, or i'm missing > # something very obvious ;-) > # > > # > # One more minor sidenote. Git-bisect creates its own branch: > # > > dione:~/linux-tmp12> git-branch -a > * bisect > master > tmp > tmp2 > origin/HEAD > origin/master > origin/new_branch > > # > # So i assumed that i could get rid of that 'bisect' branch by doing > # the obvious: "git-bisect stop", but no go: > # > > dione:~/linux-tmp12> git-bisect stop > Usage: /usr/bin/git-bisect > [start|bad|good|skip|next|reset|visualize|replay|log|run] > > # > # After some experimentation "git-bisect reset" did the trick - but > # it's a bit counter-intuitive IMO, because the logical extension of > # 'start' is 'stop', and i often use 'git-bisect reset' to just restart > # bisection anew. (it chimes in on 'restart') > #
"git bisect start" also does a "restart" if a bisect is already started. But yes, we could add "stop" as a synonym for "reset" and "restart" as a synonym for "start".
Thanks, Christian.
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> # > # Ok, that's all for today. :-) > # > > Ingo > -- > To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe git" in > the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org > More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html