Re: [PATCH] wrapper: remove xunsetenv()

From: Carlo Arenas <carenas@gmail.com>
Date: Oct 29, 2021, 21:50 UTC
Message-ID: <CAPUEsphuqsxUmaH6wRWi_+HT+ukyRxfuPe6hKoJt9kc-GRxBjA@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <014901d7cd0e$042a3470$0c7e9d50$@nexbridge.com>

On Fri, Oct 29, 2021 at 2:43 PM <rsbecker@nexbridge.com> wrote:

Show 9 quoted lines

>
> On October 29, 2021 5:37 PM, Jeff King wrote:
> > On Fri, Oct 29, 2021 at 02:27:05PM -0700, Carlo Marcelo Arenas Belón wrote:
> >
> > > Remove the unused wrapper function.
> >
> > I don't mind removing this if nobody is using it, but doesn't your first paragraph
> > argue that our definition of gitunsetenv() is just wrong?
> > I.e., it should return an int, even if it is always "0"?

I couldn't figure the intent Jason had when this code was added in 2006, but considering how Junio suggested using void for the wrapper, my guess is that we really wanted to make sure nobody will consider errors for that function as actionable.

Show 7 quoted lines

> > Or is it a portability question? I.e., are there platforms where
> > unsetenv() also returns void, in which case we must make sure nobody ever
> > looks at its return value (and xunsetenv() is therefore a wrong direction)?
>
> At least on NonStop x86, it is
>
>        int unsetenv(const char *name);

I don't think there is any platform that had anything but int, and so I agree with you that it would be much better if the compatibility layer returns 0, but as you pointed out, this was the safest approach considering we are 1 day after rc0 ;)

Carlo