[PATCH v2 1/2] help: use list_aliases() for alias listing and lookup

From: Jonatan Holmgren <jonatan@jontes.page>
Date: Feb 10, 2026, 18:31 UTC
Message-ID: <20260210183110.1151072-2-jonatan@jontes.page>
In-Reply-To: <20260210183110.1151072-1-jonatan@jontes.page>

help.c has its own get_alias() config callback that duplicates the parsing logic in alias.c. Consolidate by teaching list_aliases() to also store the alias values (via the string_list util field), then use it in list_all_cmds_help_aliases() instead of the private callback.

While at it, switch git_unknown_cmd_config() from skip_prefix() to parse_config_key() for alias parsing, which properly handles the config key structure and prepares for multi-level alias config keys in a subsequent commit.

No functional change intended.

Signed-off-by: Jonatan Holmgren <jonatan@jontes.page>
---
 alias.c |  4 +++-
 help.c  | 26 ++++++++------------------
 2 files changed, 11 insertions(+), 19 deletions(-)

diff --git a/alias.c b/alias.c
index 1a1a141a0a..c66a6095bb 100644
--- a/alias.c
+++ b/alias.c
@@ -29,7 +29,9 @@ static int config_alias_cb(const char *key, const char *value,
 						 key, value);
 		}
 	} else if (data->list) {
-		string_list_append(data->list, p);
+		if (value)
+			string_list_append(data->list, p)->util =
+				xstrdup(value);
 	}
 
 	return 0;
diff --git a/help.c b/help.c
index fefd811f7a..a450d57987 100644
--- a/help.c
+++ b/help.c
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 #include "prompt.h"
 #include "fsmonitor-ipc.h"
 #include "repository.h"
+#include "alias.h"
 
 #ifndef NO_CURL
 #include "git-curl-compat.h" /* For LIBCURL_VERSION only */
@@ -468,20 +469,6 @@ void list_developer_interfaces_help(void)
 	putchar('\n');
 }
 
-static int get_alias(const char *var, const char *value,
-		     const struct config_context *ctx UNUSED, void *data)
-{
-	struct string_list *list = data;
-
-	if (skip_prefix(var, "alias.", &var)) {
-		if (!value)
-			return config_error_nonbool(var);
-		string_list_append(list, var)->util = xstrdup(value);
-	}
-
-	return 0;
-}
-
 static void list_all_cmds_help_external_commands(void)
 {
 	struct string_list others = STRING_LIST_INIT_DUP;
@@ -501,7 +488,7 @@ static void list_all_cmds_help_aliases(int longest)
 	struct cmdname_help *aliases;
 	int i;
 
-	repo_config(the_repository, get_alias, &alias_list);
+	list_aliases(&alias_list);
 	string_list_sort(&alias_list);
 
 	for (i = 0; i < alias_list.nr; i++) {
@@ -586,7 +573,8 @@ static int git_unknown_cmd_config(const char *var, const char *value,
 				  void *cb)
 {
 	struct help_unknown_cmd_config *cfg = cb;
-	const char *p;
+	const char *subsection, *key;
+	size_t subsection_len;
 
 	if (!strcmp(var, "help.autocorrect")) {
 		int v = parse_autocorrect(value);
@@ -601,8 +589,10 @@ static int git_unknown_cmd_config(const char *var, const char *value,
 	}
 
 	/* Also use aliases for command lookup */
-	if (skip_prefix(var, "alias.", &p))
-		add_cmdname(&cfg->aliases, p, strlen(p));
+	if (!parse_config_key(var, "alias", &subsection, &subsection_len, &key)) {
+		if (!subsection)
+			add_cmdname(&cfg->aliases, key, strlen(key));
+	}
 
 	return 0;
 }

-- 
2.53.0