Re: [PATCH 4/4] config: allow including config from repository blobs

From: Jeff King <peff@peff.net>
Date: Jan 26, 2012, 23:00 UTC
Message-ID: <20120126230054.GC12855@sigill.intra.peff.net>
In-Reply-To: <7vbopq2mk9.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org>

On Thu, Jan 26, 2012 at 01:14:46PM -0800, Junio C Hamano wrote:

Show 9 quoted lines

> Jeff King <peff@peff.net> writes:
> 
> > +You can also include configuration from a blob stored in your repository
> > +by setting the special `include.ref` variable to the name of an object
> > +containing your configuration data (in the same format as a regular
> > +config file).
> 
> Hmm, the concept is surely *fun*, but is this really worth it?
> [you could just tell people to copy the file into .git]

Yes, that does work. I liked the idea of putting it in the repo, though, because it means you can actually _track_ the contents, including any local changes you make.

So yeah, if you are just going to copy it once, or even periodically, it is not that big an advantage. And the example I gave using "git tag" did just that. But I also wanted to allow more complex things, like this:

  # clone and inspect
  git clone git://example.com/project.git
  cd project
  git show origin:devtools/std_gitconfig

  # well, that looks pretty good. But I'd like to tweak something.
  git checkout -b config origin
  $EDITOR devtools/std_gitconfig
  git commit -a -m "drop the foo option, which I hate"

  # OK, let's use it now.
  git config include.ref config:devtools/std_gitconfig

  # Weeks pass. Somebody else updates the std_gitconfig.
  git fetch
  # let's inspect the changes
  git checkout config
  git diff @{u} -- devtools/std_gitconfig
  # looks good, let's merge (not copy!) them in
  git merge @{u}

This is obviously an advanced thing to be doing. But it's cool to me, because even if you aren't working on a shared project, it is a means of versioning your config.

-Peff