Re: [PATCHv3] daemon: give friendlier error messages to clients

From: Sitaram Chamarty <sitaramc@gmail.com>
Date: Oct 15, 2011, 07:09 UTC
Message-ID: <CAMK1S_gkB49qhnt8U=3G3UPnjo2vzFx5mL4cOM1Ubu68ySJrDA@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <7vk486x0hq.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org>

On Sat, Oct 15, 2011 at 11:25 AM, Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> wrote:

Show 14 quoted lines

> Sitaram Chamarty <sitaramc@gmail.com> writes:
>
>>> Because there is a risk of leaking information about
>>> non-exported repositories, by default all errors simply say
>>> "access denied". Sites which don't have hidden repositories,
>>
>> I suggest that even the "secure" version of the message say something
>> like "access denied or repository not exported".  You're still not
>> leaking anything, but it reduces confusion to the user, who otherwise
>> may not realise it *could be* the latter.
>
> I kind of like the suggestion, but I am afraid that "access denied,
> repository nonexistent or not exported" can soon easily get long enough to
> be unmanageable.

When someone who *does* have access makes a typo, "access denied" makes it harder to realise it, because it subtly implies the repo *does* exist and it's an ACL issue. I've seen lots of frustrating back-and-forth between admin and user before someone eventually noticed the typo.

"Access denied or no such repo" is much better. (The "not exported" nuance is not relevant in this context; you can safely ignore it.)

regards

-- 
Sitaram