Re: Suggested clarification for .gitattributes reference documentation

> On Sat, 13 Jan 2024, Torsten Bögershausen wrote:
>
> > On Sat, Jan 13, 2024 at 02:56:27AM +0000, Michael Litwak wrote:
> > > I just installed Git for Windows 2.43.0 and noticed the installer offers
> > > three options for altering the PATH:
> > >
> > > 1) Run git from git bash only
> > >
> > > 2) Run git from git bash, cmd.exe and PowerShell (RECOMMENDED)
> > >
> > > 3) Run git from git bash, cmd.exe and PowerShell with optional utilities
> > > (warning: will override find, sort and other system utilities).
> > >
> > > It turns out iconv.exe is accessible from cmd.exe (Command Prompt) only
> > > when you take the third option.  But iconv.exe is NOT optional.  It is
> > > required for git to deal with UTF-16LE with BOM text conversions (and
> > > probably for numerous other encoding conversions).
>
> For end users directly calling iconv.exe is definitely optional.
>
> > Plese wait a second - and thanks for bringing this up.
> > To my knowledge the binary iconv.exe (or just iconv under non-Windows)
> > is never called from Git itself.
> > Git is using iconv_open() and friends, which are all inside
> > a library, either the C-library "libc", or "libiconv"
> > (not 100% sure about the naming here)
>
> Exactly. I can't find a single instance of Git for Windows calling iconv.exe
> instead of using the corresponding library functions. [1]
>
> And even if it did, iconv.exe is definitely on the path for git.exe [2] unless
> you're calling /(mingw|clangarm)(64|32)/bin/git.exe directly, in which case
> the solution is to call /cmd/git.exe instead.

> [1]
> https://github.com/search?q=repo%3Agit-for-windows%2Fgit%20iconv%20NOT%20path%3A%2F%5Et%5C%2F%2F%20NOT%20path%3A%2F%5EDocumentation%5C%2F%2F&type=code
> [2]
> https://github.com/git-for-windows/MINGW-packages/blob/0c91cf2079184ae6a604e8f7a406a47d39305e72/mingw-w64-git/git-wrapper.c#L166-L258
>
> > iconv.exe is not needed in everyday life, or is it ?
> > If yes, when ?
> > iconv.exe is used when you run the test-suite, to verify
> > what Git is doing.
> >
> > Could you elaborate a little bit more,
> > when iconv.exe is missing, and what is happening, please ?
> >
> > >
> > > But when PATH option #2 is chosen, and iconv.exe is unreachable from a
> > > Windows Command Prompt, the git commands which call upon iconv.exe do NOT
> > > indicate the error.  The call to iconv.exe fails silently.  It is only
> > > later after you commit, push and clone the repo again that you see the
> > > encoding failures.
> > >
> > > And the warning about overriding find and sort must be taken with a grain
> > > of salt, since the Windows versions of those programs are accessed via a
> > > Windows folder which appears earlier in the PATH.
>
> We should probably consider rewording that warning.
>
> > > So this Git for Windows installer screen is misleading.  And perhaps
> > > iconv.exe should be relocated so it is accessible even when PATH option #2
> > > is chosen.  I intend to submit an issue on the Git for Windows issue
> > > tracker regarding this.  I'll also submit an issue about the lack of an
> > > error when running 'git add' for a UTF-16LE with BOM file under PATH
> > > option #2.
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > > - Michael
> > >
> > []
> >
>
>