Re: [PATCH 0/4] cleaning up ref-filter lstrip/rstrip code

> On Fri, Feb 13, 2026 at 09:15:57PM -0800, Collin Funk wrote:
>
>> I generally don't like the casts like in rstrip_ref_components and
>> rstrip_ref_components because they force you to write this:
>> 
>>     free((char *)free_ptr);
>> 
>> And the const doesn't really benefit readability, in my opinion.
>
> Agreed. It is especially egregious in this case because the const
> variable is called to_free, and so its only purpose is to be non-const. ;)
>
>> That is a bit of a seperate topic than fixing the warning, though, so
>> I left them as-is.
>
> It is a separate topic, but I feel like this is a good opportunity to
> make this code less horrible. That is, there are some obvious
> low-hanging cleanups that make the code more readable, and as a side
> effect we clean up the const confusion. In such cases I think it is
> worth veering off the path a little.
>
> I was going to catalog the numerous flaws I found, but by the time I
> explained them, I had basically written patches and commit messages. So
> here is what I would propose instead. I hope I'm not stealing your
> thunder nor knocking us too far off our goal.

> The first three I hope are no-brainers, and the final one fixes the
> glibc const issue. The fourth is perhaps more risky.
>
>   [1/4]: ref-filter: factor out refname component counting
>   [2/4]: ref-filter: simplify lstrip_ref_components() memory handling
>   [3/4]: ref-filter: simplify rstrip_ref_components() memory handling
>   [4/4]: ref-filter: open-code slash search in rstrip_ref_components()