Re: [PATCH] Demonstrate failure of 'core.ignorecase = true'

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Mar 22, 2012, 18:44 UTC
Message-ID: <7viphwxyp1.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org>
In-Reply-To: <20120322173701.GA11928@sigill.intra.peff.net>

Jeff King <peff@peff.net> writes:

Show 19 quoted lines

> On Thu, Mar 22, 2012 at 09:57:23AM -0700, Junio C Hamano wrote:
>
>> Hrm, replacing unclear part with clarified text may make sense, but it
>> would not help adding new text if the existing description is not clear
>> enough.
>> 
>> How about doing it like this?
>> 
>>    Case-insensitive filesystems like FAT and HFS+ have various strange
>>    behaviours, like reporting that a file "Makefile" already exists when
>>    the file that actually exists on them is "makefile". By setting this
>>    variable to `true`, Git employs logic to work around them.
>> 
>>    The default is false, except that git-clone[1] and git-init[1] will
>>    probe the filesystem and set it to `true` as necessary when a new
>>    repository is created.
>
> IMHO, it suffers from the same problem as the original, which is that it
> does tells when to use core.ignorecase, but does not specify what

I wanted it to tell *what* happens when core.ignorecase is set. In other words, I wanted the description to say that the logic employed is to work around what case-insensitive filesystems do. Case sensitive filesystems obviously do not do what case-insensitive ones do (like reporting a "Makefile" exists when only "makefile" exists), so I hoped that it was clear enough that the additional logic would not be suitable there.

> happens when one sets core.ignorecase to true on a case-sensitive
> filesystem. Maybe we should be more explicit about what _does_ happen in
> that case (to be honest, I am not completely sure). Or just say that it
> is not a supported use case.

I guess we really need to make the description foolproof then.

                   ... exists on them is "makefile". By setting this
	variable to `true`, Git employs logic to work around them.
        Setting this to `true` on a case insensitive filesystem does
	not make any sense, because it would not magically make your
	system to treat your filesystem case insensitively.