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Re: [PATCH 3/3] sequencer: use read_author_script()

From
Eric Sunshine <sunshine@sunshineco.com>
Date
Sep 14, 2018, 00:31 UTC
Message-ID
<CAPig+cS8ncvp8Se2Q24z9CFkiVey2zHP8i3oYVDPfGoP1kuDdA@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To
<20180912101029.28052-4-phillip.wood@talktalk.net>
On Wed, Sep 12, 2018 at 6:11 AM Phillip Wood <phillip.wood@talktalk.net> wrote:
Show 12 quoted lines
> Use the new function to read the author script, updating
> read_env_script() and read_author_ident(). This means we now have a
> single code path that reads the author script and uses sq_dequote() to
> dequote it. This fixes potential problems with user edited scripts
> as read_env_script() which did not track quotes properly.
> [...]
> Signed-off-by: Phillip Wood <phillip.wood@dunelm.org.uk>
> ---
>  /*
>   * Read a list of environment variable assignments (such as the author-script
>   * file) into an environment block. Returns -1 on error, 0 otherwise.
>   */

According to this comment, this function is capable of parsing a file of arbitrary "NAME=Value" lines, and indeed the original code does just that, but...

Show 7 quoted lines
>  static int read_env_script(struct argv_array *env)
>  {
> +       char *name, *email, *date;
>
> -       if (strbuf_read_file(&script, rebase_path_author_script(), 256) <= 0)
> +       if (read_author_script(rebase_path_author_script(),
> +                              &name, &email, &date, 0))

...the new implementation is able to handle only GIT_AUTHOR_NAME, GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL, and GIT_AUTHOR_DATE, in exactly that order.

This seems like a pretty serious (and possibly buggy) change of behavior, and makes the function much less useful (in general). Is it true that it will only ever be used for files containing that limited set of names? If so, the behavior change deserves mention in the commit message, the function comment needs updating, and the function itself probably ought to be renamed.

Show 12 quoted lines
> +       strbuf_addstr(&script, "GIT_AUTHOR_NAME=");
> +       strbuf_addstr(&script, name);
> +       argv_array_push(env, script.buf);
> +       strbuf_reset(&script);
> +       strbuf_addstr(&script, "GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL=");
> +       strbuf_addstr(&script, email);
> +       argv_array_push(env, script.buf);
> +       strbuf_reset(&script);
> +       strbuf_addstr(&script, "GIT_AUTHOR_DATE=");
> +       strbuf_addstr(&script, date);
> +       argv_array_push(env, script.buf);
> +       strbuf_release(&script);
Mentioned earlier[1], this can all collapse down to:

argv_array_pushf(env, "GIT_AUTHOR_NAME=%s", name); argv_array_pushf(env, "GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL=%s", email); argv_array_pushf(env, "GIT_AUTHOR_DATE=%s", date);

However, it's unfortunate that this manual and hard-coded reconstruction is needed at all. If you restructure the factoring of this patch series, such ugliness can be avoided altogether. For instance, the series could be structured like this:

1. Introduce a general-purpose function for reading a file containing
arbitrary "NAME=Value" lines (not carrying about specific key names or
their order) and returning them in some data structure (perhaps via
'string_list' as parse_key_value_squoted() in patch 2/3 does).
2. Build read_author_script() atop #1, making it expect and extract
GIT_AUTHOR_NAME, GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL, and GIT_AUTHOR_DATE (possibly in
that order, or possibly not if we don't care).
3. Retrofit existing parsers to call one of those two functions (this
step may happen over several patches). So, for instance,
read_env_script() would call the generic parser from #1, whereas
sequencer.c:read_author_ident() would call the more specific parser
from #2.
More below...
Show 28 quoted lines
> @@ -790,54 +771,25 @@ static char *get_author(const char *message)
>  /* Read author-script and return an ident line (author <email> timestamp) */
>  static const char *read_author_ident(struct strbuf *buf)
>  {
> -       const char *keys[] = {
> -               "GIT_AUTHOR_NAME=", "GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL=", "GIT_AUTHOR_DATE="
> -       };
> -       if (strbuf_read_file(buf, rebase_path_author_script(), 256) <= 0)
> +       if (read_author_script(rebase_path_author_script(),
> +                              &name, &email, &date, 0))
>                 return NULL;
> -       /* dequote values and construct ident line in-place */
> -       for (in = buf->buf; i < 3 && in - buf->buf < buf->len; i++) {
> -               if (!skip_prefix(in, keys[i], (const char **)&in)) {
> -                       warning(_("could not parse '%s' (looking for '%s')"),
> -                               rebase_path_author_script(), keys[i]);
> -                       return NULL;
> -               }
> -               if (!sq_dequote(in)) {
> -                       warning(_("bad quoting on %s value in '%s'"),
> -                               keys[i], rebase_path_author_script());
> -                       return NULL;
> -               }
> -       if (i < 3) {
> -               warning(_("could not parse '%s' (looking for '%s')"),
> -                       rebase_path_author_script(), keys[i]);
> -               return NULL;
> -       }

The parsing code being thrown away here does a better job of diagnosing problems (thus helping the user figure out what went wrong) than the new shared parser introduced by patch 2/3. The shared function only ever reports a generic "unable to parse", whereas the above code gets specific, saying that it was looking for a particular key or that quoting was broken. I'd have expected the new shared parser to encompass the best features of the existing parsers (such as presenting better error messages).

>         /* validate date since fmt_ident() will die() on bad value */
> -       if (parse_date(val[2], &out)){
> +       if (parse_date(date, buf)){

Re-purposing the strbuf 'buf', which is passed into this function, binds this function too tightly with its caller by assuming that the caller will never need the original content of 'buf' anymore. Thus, it would be better for this code continue using its own local strbuf 'out' rather than re-purposing the incoming 'buf'.

Show 5 quoted lines
>                 warning(_("invalid date format '%s' in '%s'"),
> -                       val[2], rebase_path_author_script());
> -               strbuf_release(&out);
> +                       date, rebase_path_author_script());
> +               strbuf_release(buf);

Likewise, it's doubly odd to see this function releasing 'buf' which it does not own.

>                 return NULL;
>         }
[1]: https://public-inbox.org/git/CAPig+cRvUr26GZyW6ecYhpwABueBqaEfZH1+JjLaqZo8+RTD6Q@mail.gmail.com/
Previous: Eric SunshineNext: Phillip Wood
Message 9 of 41 in “am/rebase: share read_author_script()”
  1. 0/3 am/rebase: share read_author_script()Phillip Wood, Sep 12, 2018
  2. 1/3 am: rename read_author_script()Phillip Wood, Sep 12, 2018
  3. 2/3 add read_author_script() to libgitPhillip Wood, Sep 12, 2018
  4. Eric SunshineSep 13, 2018
  5. Phillip WoodOct 10, 2018
  6. Eric SunshineOct 10, 2018
  7. 3/3 sequencer: use read_author_script()Phillip Wood, Sep 12, 2018
  8. Eric SunshineSep 12, 2018
  9. Eric SunshineSep 14, 2018
  10. Phillip WoodOct 10, 2018
  11. 0/5 am/rebase: share read_author_script()Phillip Wood, Oct 18, 2018
  12. 1/5 am: don't die in read_author_script()Phillip Wood, Oct 18, 2018
  13. Junio C HamanoOct 25, 2018
  14. 2/5 am: improve author-script error reportingPhillip Wood, Oct 18, 2018
  15. Junio C HamanoOct 25, 2018
  16. 3/5 am: rename read_author_script()Phillip Wood, Oct 18, 2018
  17. 5/5 sequencer: use read_author_script()Phillip Wood, Oct 18, 2018
  18. 4/5 add read_author_script() to libgitPhillip Wood, Oct 18, 2018
  19. Junio C HamanoOct 25, 2018
  20. Phillip WoodOct 26, 2018
  21. Junio C HamanoOct 26, 2018
  22. 0/5 am/rebase: share read_author_script()Phillip Wood, Oct 30, 2018
  23. 2/5 am: improve author-script error reportingPhillip Wood, Oct 30, 2018
  24. 1/5 am: don't die in read_author_script()Phillip Wood, Oct 30, 2018
  25. 4/5 add read_author_script() to libgitPhillip Wood, Oct 30, 2018
  26. 5/5 sequencer: use read_author_script()Phillip Wood, Oct 30, 2018
  27. 3/5 am: rename read_author_script()Phillip Wood, Oct 30, 2018
  28. Junio C HamanoOct 31, 2018
  29. Phillip WoodOct 31, 2018
  30. 0/5 am/rebase: share read_author_script()Phillip Wood, Oct 31, 2018
  31. 2/5 am: improve author-script error reportingPhillip Wood, Oct 31, 2018
  32. Eric SunshineNov 4, 2018
  33. Junio C HamanoNov 5, 2018
  34. 3/5 am: rename read_author_script()Phillip Wood, Oct 31, 2018
  35. 5/5 sequencer: use read_author_script()Phillip Wood, Oct 31, 2018
  36. 4/5 add read_author_script() to libgitPhillip Wood, Oct 31, 2018
  37. 1/5 am: don't die in read_author_script()Phillip Wood, Oct 31, 2018
  38. Junio C HamanoNov 1, 2018
  39. 2/5 am: improve author-script error reportingJunio C Hamano, Nov 1, 2018
  40. 4/5 add read_author_script() to libgitJunio C Hamano, Nov 1, 2018
  41. Phillip WoodNov 1, 2018

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