Re: [PATCH] Set GIT_PATHNAME_PREFIX with aliases.

From: Johannes Sixt <j.sixt@viscovery.net>
Date: May 5, 2010, 06:53 UTC
Message-ID: <4BE115EF.8010306@viscovery.net>
In-Reply-To: <20100505005153.GC25390@coredump.intra.peff.net>

Am 5/5/2010 2:51, schrieb Jeff King:

Show 9 quoted lines

> On Tue, May 04, 2010 at 08:25:22PM -0400, Jared Hance wrote:
> 
>> The environment variable GIT_PATHNAME_PREFIX passes on the
>> current working directory (where the git command was called from)
>> to shell aliases (aliases that begin with "!"). This allows these
>> shell aliases to know the directory that the git command was called
>> from.
> 
> Seems like a reasonable goal, but...

Sorry, I disagree.

The availability of this environment variable doesn't help the alias writer a lot:

1. The alias is still burdened with the task to check *when* to use the
variable, i.e., whether an argument passed is absolute or relative, and
apply the variable only to a relative argument.

2. When more than one pathspec is passed to the alias, it is tedious to
apply $GIT_PATHNAME_PREFIX to each of them.

The only way where this variable could be used in a useful manner is to write the alias as

   !cd "${GIT_PATHNAME_PREFIX:-.}" && { do stuff... ; }

which is something that git should do before it invokes the alias.

-- Hannes