Re: [PATCH v3] sparse-checkout: improve OS ls compatibility

From: Eric Sunshine <sunshine@sunshineco.com>
Date: Dec 20, 2019, 18:34 UTC
Message-ID: <CAPig+cQ29dEbQgnJmGvODy9kGYq9TqKaJV5-mOPXbGFZ1HRWmw@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <xmqqftheamea.fsf@gitster-ct.c.googlers.com>

On Fri, Dec 20, 2019 at 1:21 PM Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> wrote:

Show 14 quoted lines

> Eric Sunshine <sunshine@sunshineco.com> writes:
> > anomalous behavior is still present. It would be helpful, therefore,
> > to mention such an implementation by name:
> >
> >     ...some 'ls' implementations, such as on FreeBSD, include...
> >
> If we _were_ to add an in-code comment, we may want to say something
> like
>
>         # Do not replace this with "cd "$1" && ls", as FreeBSD "ls"
>         # enables "-A" when run by root without being told, and ends
>         # up including ".git" etc. in its output.
>
> to warn future developers against improving and/or cleaning up.

I would find this comment more helpful than the existing one since it spells out the issue precisely. A minor tweak:

    # Do not replace this with "cd "$1" && ls", as FreeBSD "ls"
    # enables "-A" by default when run by root, and ends up
    # including ".git" etc. in its output.

> Not that we encourage running our tests as root, though.  I am
> slightly worried that the above phrasing might be taken as such.

I'm not sure we really need to spell it out, but something like this might allay that concern:

    # Do not replace this with "cd "$1" && ls", as FreeBSD "ls"
    # enables "-A" by default when run by root, and ends up
    # including ".git" etc. in its output. (Note, though, that
    # running the test suite as root is generally not
    # recommended.)