git/list[1] front-page[2] threads[3] people[4] search[5] about
 

[PATCH V3] git-apply: add --allow-empty flag

From
Jerry Zhang <jerry@skydio.com>
Date
Dec 11, 2021, 03:13 UTC
Message-ID
<20211211031343.15818-1-jerry@skydio.com>
In-Reply-To
<20210427194049.14399-1-jerry@skydio.com>

Some users or scripts will pipe "git diff" output to "git apply" when replaying diffs or commits. In these cases, they will rely on the return value of "git apply" to know whether the diff was applied successfully.

However, for empty commits, "git apply" will fail. This complicates scripts since they have to either buffer the diff and check its length, or run diff again with "exit-code", essentially doing the diff twice.

Add the "--allow-empty" flag to "git apply" which allows it to handle both empty diffs and empty commits created by "git format-patch --always" by doing nothing and returning 0.

Add tests for both with and without --allow-empty.
Signed-off-by: Jerry Zhang <jerry@skydio.com>
---
V2->V3:
- moved lines into setup routine
- switched all tests to using "test_when_finished" rather than resetting at the end
 Documentation/git-apply.txt |  6 +++++-
 apply.c                     |  8 ++++++--
 apply.h                     |  1 +
 t/t4126-apply-empty.sh      | 22 ++++++++++++++++++----
 4 files changed, 30 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/git-apply.txt b/Documentation/git-apply.txt
index a32ad64718..b6d77f4206 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-apply.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-apply.txt
@@ -14,11 +14,11 @@ SYNOPSIS
 	  [--allow-binary-replacement | --binary] [--reject] [-z]
 	  [-p<n>] [-C<n>] [--inaccurate-eof] [--recount] [--cached]
 	  [--ignore-space-change | --ignore-whitespace]
 	  [--whitespace=(nowarn|warn|fix|error|error-all)]
 	  [--exclude=<path>] [--include=<path>] [--directory=<root>]
-	  [--verbose | --quiet] [--unsafe-paths] [<patch>...]
+	  [--verbose | --quiet] [--unsafe-paths] [--allow-empty] [<patch>...]
 
 DESCRIPTION
 -----------
 Reads the supplied diff output (i.e. "a patch") and applies it to files.
 When running from a subdirectory in a repository, patched paths
@@ -254,10 +254,14 @@ running `git apply --directory=modules/git-gui`.
 +
 When `git apply` is used as a "better GNU patch", the user can pass
 the `--unsafe-paths` option to override this safety check.  This option
 has no effect when `--index` or `--cached` is in use.
 
+--allow-empty::
+	Don't return error for patches containing no diff. This includes
+	empty patches and patches with commit text only.
+
 CONFIGURATION
 -------------
 
 apply.ignoreWhitespace::
 	Set to 'change' if you want changes in whitespace to be ignored by default.
diff --git a/apply.c b/apply.c
index 9f00f882a2..f6029fd935 100644
--- a/apply.c
+++ b/apply.c
@@ -4752,12 +4752,14 @@ static int apply_patch(struct apply_state *state,
 		}
 		offset += nr;
 	}
 
 	if (!list && !skipped_patch) {
-		error(_("unrecognized input"));
-		res = -128;
+		if (!state->allow_empty) {
+			error(_("unrecognized input"));
+			res = -128;
+		}
 		goto end;
 	}
 
 	if (state->whitespace_error && (state->ws_error_action == die_on_ws_error))
 		state->apply = 0;
@@ -5081,10 +5083,12 @@ int apply_parse_options(int argc, const char **argv,
 			N_("do not trust the line counts in the hunk headers"),
 			APPLY_OPT_RECOUNT),
 		OPT_CALLBACK(0, "directory", state, N_("root"),
 			N_("prepend <root> to all filenames"),
 			apply_option_parse_directory),
+		OPT_BOOL(0, "allow-empty", &state->allow_empty,
+			N_("don't return error for empty patches")),
 		OPT_END()
 	};
 
 	return parse_options(argc, argv, state->prefix, builtin_apply_options, apply_usage, 0);
 }
diff --git a/apply.h b/apply.h
index da3d95fa50..16202da160 100644
--- a/apply.h
+++ b/apply.h
@@ -64,10 +64,11 @@ struct apply_state {
 	int apply_with_reject;
 	int no_add;
 	int threeway;
 	int unidiff_zero;
 	int unsafe_paths;
+	int allow_empty;
 
 	/* Other non boolean parameters */
 	struct repository *repo;
 	const char *index_file;
 	enum apply_verbosity apply_verbosity;
diff --git a/t/t4126-apply-empty.sh b/t/t4126-apply-empty.sh
index ceb6a79fe0..949e284d14 100755
--- a/t/t4126-apply-empty.sh
+++ b/t/t4126-apply-empty.sh
@@ -7,10 +7,12 @@ test_description='apply empty'
 test_expect_success setup '
 	>empty &&
 	git add empty &&
 	test_tick &&
 	git commit -m initial &&
+	git commit --allow-empty -m "empty commit" &&
+	git format-patch --always HEAD~ >empty.patch &&
 	for i in a b c d e
 	do
 		echo $i
 	done >empty &&
 	cat empty >expect &&
@@ -23,34 +25,46 @@ test_expect_success setup '
 	>empty &&
 	git update-index --refresh
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'apply empty' '
-	git reset --hard &&
 	rm -f missing &&
+	test_when_finished "git reset --hard" &&
 	git apply patch0 &&
 	test_cmp expect empty
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'apply empty patch fails' '
+	test_when_finished "git reset --hard" &&
+	test_must_fail git apply empty.patch &&
+	test_must_fail git apply - </dev/null
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'apply with --allow-empty succeeds' '
+	test_when_finished "git reset --hard" &&
+	git apply --allow-empty empty.patch &&
+	git apply --allow-empty - </dev/null
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'apply --index empty' '
-	git reset --hard &&
 	rm -f missing &&
+	test_when_finished "git reset --hard" &&
 	git apply --index patch0 &&
 	test_cmp expect empty &&
 	git diff --exit-code
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'apply create' '
-	git reset --hard &&
 	rm -f missing &&
+	test_when_finished "git reset --hard" &&
 	git apply patch1 &&
 	test_cmp expect missing
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'apply --index create' '
-	git reset --hard &&
 	rm -f missing &&
+	test_when_finished "git reset --hard" &&
 	git apply --index patch1 &&
 	test_cmp expect missing &&
 	git diff --exit-code
 '
 
-- 
2.32.0.1314.g6ed4fcc4cc
Previous: Ævar Arnfjörð BjarmasonNext: Bagas Sanjaya
Message 8 of 13 in “git-apply: allow empty patch text”
  1. git-apply: allow empty patch textJerry Zhang, Apr 27, 2021
  2. Eric WongApr 27, 2021
  3. Junio C HamanoApr 27, 2021
  4. git-apply: add --allow-empty flagJerry Zhang, Apr 27, 2021
  5. Junio C HamanoApr 28, 2021
  6. Jerry ZhangApr 28, 2021
  7. Ævar Arnfjörð BjarmasonApr 29, 2021
  8. git-apply: add --allow-empty flagJerry Zhang, Dec 11, 2021
  9. Bagas SanjayaDec 11, 2021
  10. git-apply: add --allow-empty flagJerry Zhang, Dec 13, 2021
  11. Junio C HamanoDec 13, 2021
  12. Jerry ZhangDec 13, 2021
  13. Junio C HamanoDec 13, 2021

Read the whole thread, see it on lore, or plain text.

$ cat FOOTERMessages come from the public archive at lore.kernel.org/git, fetched every hour. The front page is chosen and written each morning by an AI editor and can be wrong; the threads themselves are the record. About and API. For agents: an MCP server at https://gitlist.dev/mcp, and any thread, story or person page as Markdown by adding .md to its URL (or sending Accept: text/markdown). Details in /llms.txt.