Re: [PATCHv3] attr: convert to new threadsafe API

> On Tue, Oct 18, 2016 at 4:52 PM, Stefan Beller <sbeller@google.com> wrote:
>>
>> >
>> > By the way, I do see a merit on the "check" side (tl;dr: but I do
>> > not think "result" needs it, hence I do not see the need for the
>> > "ugly" variants).
>>
>> So we'd rather go with const char **result instead of our own new struct there.
>> Ok, got it.
>
> I do not think you got it. I am talking about wrapping struct around
> an array of element,
> not each element in the array. IOW
>
>> > If we were still to do the wrapping for result, I would say that
>> > basing it around the FLEX_ARRAY idiom, i.e.
>> >
>> >>         struct git_attr_result {
>> >>                 int num_slots;
>> >>                 const char *value[FLEX_ARRAY];
>> >>         };
>
> the structure around the array of elements (value) that allows us to have
> something other than value[] in it. That is what I said "I do not see
> the need for".
>
> It is perfectly fine future-proofing to have
>
> struct git_attr_result_value {
>   const char *value;
> };
>
> and have the users of API declare
>
> struct git_attr_result value[5];
>
> or whatever. That way we could fatten the structure later if we wanted
> to without having to update the users of API, and there is no downside.
>
> Having wrapping strut around the array does have a huge downside,
> and that is what I said I see no need for.