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Re: [PATCH v1 2/2] log: add option to choose which refs to decorate

From
Michael Haggerty <mhagger@alum.mit.edu>
Date
Nov 6, 2017, 07:09 UTC
Message-ID
<c1b9cb69-0fdf-a58c-62cc-343a6abdbb84@alum.mit.edu>
In-Reply-To
<xmqqshdtl057.fsf@gitster.mtv.corp.google.com>
On 11/05/2017 07:17 AM, Junio C Hamano wrote:
Show 41 quoted lines
> Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> writes:
>> Rafael Ascensão <rafa.almas@gmail.com> writes:
>> ...
>>> Because changing the default behavior of that function has
>>> implications on multiple commands which I think shouldn't change. But
>>> at the same time, would be nice to have the logic that deals with
>>> glob-ref patterns all in one place.
>>>
>>> What's the sane way to do this?
>>
>> Learn to type "--decorate-refs="refs/heads/[m]aster", and not twewak
>> the code at all, perhaps.  The users of existing "with no globbing,
>> /* is appended" interface are already used to that way and they do
>> not have to learn a new and inconsistent interface.
>>
>> After all, "I only want to see 'git log' output with 'master'
>> decorated" (i.e. not specifying "this class of refs I can glob by
>> using the naming convention I am using" and instead enumerating the
>> ones you care about) does not sound like a sensible thing people
>> often want to do, so making it follow the other codepath so that
>> people can say "refs/tags" to get "refs/tags/*", while still allowing
>> such a rare but specific and exact one possible, may not sound too
>> bad to me.
> 
> Having said all that, I can imagine another way out might be to
> change the behaviour of this "normalize" thing to add two patterns,
> the original pattern in addition to the original pattern plus "/*",
> when it sees a pattern without any glob.  Many users who relied on
> the current behaviour fed "refs/tags" knowing that it will match
> everything under "refs/tags" i.e. "refs/tags/*", and they cannot
> have a ref that is exactly "refs/tags", so adding the original
> pattern without an extra trailing "/*" would not hurt them.  And
> this will allow you to say "refs/heads/master" when you know you
> want that exact ref, and in such a repository where that original
> pattern without trailing "/*" would be useful, because you cannot
> have "refs/heads/master/one" at the same time, having an extra
> pattern that is the original plus "/*" would not hurt you, either.
> 
> This however needs a bit of thought to see if there are corner cases
> that may result in unexpected and unwanted fallout, and something I
> am reluctant to declare unilaterally that it is a better way to go.

There's some glob-matching code (somewhere? I don't know if it's allowed everywhere) that allows "**" to mean "zero or one path components. If "refs/tags" were massaged to be "refs/tags/**", then it would match not only

    refs/tags
    refs/tags/foo
but also
    refs/tags/foo/bar
, which is probably another thing that the user would expect to see.

There's at least some precedent for this kind of expansion: `git for-each-ref refs/remotes` lists *all* references under that prefix, even if they have multiple levels.

Michael
Previous: Junio C HamanoNext: Jacob Keller
Message 18 of 24 in “Add option to git log to choose which refs receive decoration”
  1. 0/2 Add option to git log to choose which refs receive decorationRafael Ascensão, Nov 4, 2017
  2. 1/2 refs: extract function to normalize partial refsRafael Ascensão, Nov 4, 2017
  3. Junio C HamanoNov 4, 2017
  4. Rafael AscensãoNov 4, 2017
  5. Kevin DaudtNov 4, 2017
  6. Michael HaggertyNov 5, 2017
  7. Michael HaggertyNov 5, 2017
  8. Junio C HamanoNov 6, 2017
  9. Rafael AscensãoNov 6, 2017
  10. Michael HaggertyNov 6, 2017
  11. 2/2 log: add option to choose which refs to decorateRafael Ascensão, Nov 4, 2017
  12. Junio C HamanoNov 4, 2017
  13. Rafael AscensãoNov 4, 2017
  14. Junio C HamanoNov 5, 2017
  15. Junio C HamanoNov 5, 2017
  16. Rafael AscensãoNov 6, 2017
  17. Junio C HamanoNov 6, 2017
  18. Michael HaggertyNov 6, 2017
  19. Jacob KellerNov 6, 2017
  20. Junio C HamanoNov 7, 2017
  21. Rafael AscensãoNov 10, 2017
  22. Junio C HamanoNov 10, 2017
  23. log: add option to choose which refs to decorateRafael Ascensão, Nov 21, 2017
  24. Junio C HamanoNov 22, 2017

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