Re: [PATCH v7 04/10] pkt-line: add packet_flush_gently()

> On 13 Sep 2016, at 00:30, Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> wrote:
> 
> larsxschneider@gmail.com writes:
> 
>> From: Lars Schneider <larsxschneider@gmail.com>
>> 
>> packet_flush() would die in case of a write error even though for some
>> callers an error would be acceptable. Add packet_flush_gently() which
>> writes a pkt-line flush packet and returns `0` for success and `-1` for
>> failure.
>> ...
>> +int packet_flush_gently(int fd)
>> +{
>> +	packet_trace("0000", 4, 1);
>> +	if (write_in_full(fd, "0000", 4) == 4)
>> +		return 0;
>> +	error("flush packet write failed");
>> +	return -1;
> 
> It is more idiomatic to do
> 
> 	return error(...);
> 
> but more importantly, does the caller even want an error message
> unconditionally printed here?
> 
> I suspect that it is a strong sign that the caller wants to be in
> control of when and what error message is produced; otherwise it
> wouldn't be calling the _gently() variant, no?