Re: [RFC/PATCH 2/3] add a library of code for producing structured output

From

Julian Phillips <julian@quantumfyre.co.uk>

Date

Apr 11, 2010, 20:46 UTC

Message-ID

<aae50060001ba0a214ed71ceff3fa480@212.159.54.234>

In-Reply-To

<m3y6gtg24x.fsf@localhost.localdomain>

> Julian Phillips <julian@quantumfyre.co.uk> writes:
>> On Sun, 11 Apr 2010 11:16:18 -0700, Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
>> wrote:
>>> Julian Phillips <julian@quantumfyre.co.uk> writes:
>>> 
>>>> Add a library that allows commands to produce structured output in

any

>>>> of a range of formats using a single API.
>>>>
>>>> The API includes an OPT_OUTPUT and handle_output_arg so that the
>>>> option handling for different commands will be as similar as

possible.

>>> 
>>> I was hoping that the existing low-level -z routines (e.g. "diff-*

-z")

>>> follow similar enough patterns to have a corresponding output-z.c and

be

>>> handled inside output.c library.  But that is not a requirement, just
>>> "would have been nicer if the original were written that way".
>> 
>> As the API currently stands, I don't think it would be possible to
>> recreate the existing output of -z, as the separator between values is
>> not
>> constant.  I haven't really looked into whether the output is

completely

>> incompatible with structured output though (i.e. could -z be supported

by

>> adding one or two functions to the API?).
> 
> What about the new(ly) proposed -Z output in one of its variants,
> namely with single NUL ("\0") as field separator, and double NUL

("\0\0")

> as a record terminator?

-- 
Julian