From: Olamide Caleb Bello Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2026 11:55:03 GMT Subject: [Outreachy PATCH v4 0/3] store repo specific config values in new `struct repo_config_values` Message-ID: In-Reply-To: Hi Git Community, Over the course of my ongoing internship, which focused on moving repo specific global variables in environment.h into local scope, I have attempted to move some variables into the struct repo-settings. However there has been some design concerns as regards the use of `prepare_repo_settings()` with respect to when and where to call the function, and also the change in behaviours when the variable is lazily loaded as discussed in [1] and [2]. After different deliberations, Phillip Wood proposed creating a new config struct [3], adding it to the repository struct and passing the repo struct to `git_default_config()` to store parsed repo specific config values per repo. This ensures the current behaviours will be retained. I have experimented with this approach for some values and I would appreciate feedbacks about this approach before we can move forward and use it for more variables related to `git_default_config()`. For now, the parsed value is stored in `the_repository` in `git_default_*_config()` and further efforts to pass the repository parameter to `git_default_config()` as the callback parameter will be looked into later on. The link to the CI tests can be see in [4] 1. https://lore.kernel.org/git/43aaec10-2696-44c9-8728-2045b83dc5d3@gmail.com/ 2. https://lore.kernel.org/git/a881499d-e236-4f8e-a217-b6bce69e3e3c@gmail.com/ 3. https://lore.kernel.org/git/8899016f-eeef-404b-8da6-ff3a90e81cea@gmail.com/ 4. https://gitlab.com/gitlab-community/gitlab-org/git/-/pipelines/2266020513 Changes in v4: ============== - Changed variable name in the struct to attributes_file - Modified commit messages in all patches to explain how the variable being global can be overwritten when the process has multiple repositories - Changed the variable name in patch 2 to apply_sparse_checkout - Changes the variable name in patch 3 to branch_track Olamide Caleb Bello (3): environment: stop storing `core.attributesFile` globally environment: stop using core.sparseCheckout globally environment: move "branch.autoSetupMerge" into `struct repo_config_values` attr.c | 7 ++++--- branch.h | 2 -- builtin/backfill.c | 2 +- builtin/branch.c | 2 +- builtin/checkout.c | 2 +- builtin/clone.c | 2 +- builtin/grep.c | 2 +- builtin/mv.c | 2 +- builtin/push.c | 2 +- builtin/sparse-checkout.c | 23 ++++++++++++----------- builtin/submodule--helper.c | 2 +- builtin/worktree.c | 2 +- dir.c | 2 +- environment.c | 28 ++++++++++++++++++---------- environment.h | 14 ++++++++++++-- repository.c | 1 + repository.h | 4 ++++ sparse-index.c | 6 ++++-- unpack-trees.c | 2 +- wt-status.c | 3 ++- 20 files changed, 68 insertions(+), 42 deletions(-) Range diff versus v3: ===================== 1: 1aa41da833 ! 1: d28850bcdb environment: stop storing `core.attributesFile` globally @@ Metadata ## Commit message ## environment: stop storing `core.attributesFile` globally - The config value is parsed in git_default_core_config(), loaded eagerly - and stored in the global variable `git_attributes_file`. - Storing this value in a global variable can lead to unexpected - behaviours when more than one Git repository run in the same Git process. + The `core.attributeFile` config value is parsed in + git_default_core_config(), loaded eagerly and stored in the global + variable `git_attributes_file`. Storing this value in a global variable + can lead to it being overwritten by another repository when more than one + Git repository run in the same Git process. Create a new struct `repo_config_values` to hold this value and - other repository dependent values parsed by `git_default_config()` and - can be accessed per repository via `git_default_config()`. + other repository dependent values parsed by `git_default_config()`. + For now the value can be accessed via the_repository in + `git_default_config()`. This will ensure the current behaviour remains the same while also enabling the libification of Git. It is important to note that `git_default_config()` is a wrapper to other - `git_default_*_config()` such as `git_default_core_config()`. + `git_default_*_config()` functions such as `git_default_core_config()`. Therefore to access and modify this global variable, - the change has to be made in the function which parses and - stores the value in the global variable. + the change has to be made `git_default_core_config()`. Suggested-by: Phillip Wood Mentored-by: Christian Couder @@ attr.c: const char *git_attr_system_file(void) - if (!git_attributes_file) - git_attributes_file = xdg_config_home("attributes"); + struct repo_config_values *cfg = &the_repository->config_values; -+ if (!cfg->attributes_file_path) -+ cfg->attributes_file_path = xdg_config_home("attributes"); ++ if (!cfg->attributes_file) ++ cfg->attributes_file = xdg_config_home("attributes"); - return git_attributes_file; -+ return cfg->attributes_file_path; ++ return cfg->attributes_file; } int git_attr_system_is_enabled(void) @@ environment.c: static int git_default_core_config(const char *var, const char *v if (!strcmp(var, "core.attributesfile")) { - FREE_AND_NULL(git_attributes_file); - return git_config_pathname(&git_attributes_file, var, value); -+ FREE_AND_NULL(cfg->attributes_file_path); -+ return git_config_pathname(&cfg->attributes_file_path, var, value); ++ FREE_AND_NULL(cfg->attributes_file); ++ return git_config_pathname(&cfg->attributes_file, var, value); } if (!strcmp(var, "core.bare")) { @@ environment.c: int git_default_config(const char *var, const char *value, + +void repo_config_values_init(struct repo_config_values *cfg) +{ -+ cfg->attributes_file_path = NULL; ++ cfg->attributes_file = NULL; +} ## environment.h ## @@ environment.h: extern const char * const local_repo_env[]; struct strvec; -+/* Config values parsed by git_default_config() */ +struct repo_config_values { -+ /* core config values */ -+ char *attributes_file_path; ++ /* section "core" config values */ ++ char *attributes_file; +}; + /* 2: fd95169de4 ! 2: e44ce7be3d environment: environment: stop using core.sparseCheckout globally @@ Metadata Author: Olamide Caleb Bello ## Commit message ## - environment: environment: stop using core.sparseCheckout globally + environment: stop using core.sparseCheckout globally The config value `core.sparseCheckout` is parsed in `git_default_core_config()` and stored globally in - `core_appy_sparse_checkout`. This could cause unintended behaviours - when different Git repositories running in the same process access this - variable. + `core_apply_sparse_checkout`. This could cause it to be overwritten + by another repository when different Git repositories run in the same + process. - Move the parsed value into `struct repo_config_values` to retains current - behaviours while achieving the repository scoped access. + Move the parsed value into `struct repo_config_values` in the_repository + to retain current behaviours and move towards libifying Git. Suggested-by: Phillip Wood Mentored-by: Christian Couder @@ builtin/backfill.c: int cmd_backfill(int argc, const char **argv, const char *pr if (ctx.sparse < 0) - ctx.sparse = core_apply_sparse_checkout; -+ ctx.sparse = repo->config_values.sparse_checkout; ++ ctx.sparse = the_repository->config_values.apply_sparse_checkout; result = do_backfill(&ctx); backfill_context_clear(&ctx); @@ builtin/clone.c: static int git_sparse_checkout_init(const char *repo) * for the later checkout to use the sparse-checkout file. */ - core_apply_sparse_checkout = 1; -+ the_repository->config_values.sparse_checkout = 1; ++ the_repository->config_values.apply_sparse_checkout = 1; cmd.git_cmd = 1; if (run_command(&cmd)) { @@ builtin/grep.c: static int grep_submodule(struct grep_opt *opt, * of these submodules are expanded unexpectedly. * - * 2. "core_apply_sparse_checkout" -+ * 2. "sparse_checkout" ++ * 2. "config_values.apply_sparse_checkout" * When running `grep` in the superproject, this setting is * populated using the superproject's configs. However, once * initialized, this config is globally accessible and is read by @@ builtin/mv.c: int cmd_mv(int argc, if (ignore_sparse && - core_apply_sparse_checkout && -+ the_repository->config_values.sparse_checkout && ++ the_repository->config_values.apply_sparse_checkout && core_sparse_checkout_cone) { /* * NEEDSWORK: we are *not* paying attention to @@ builtin/sparse-checkout.c: static int sparse_checkout_list(int argc, const char setup_work_tree(); - if (!core_apply_sparse_checkout) -+ if (!the_repository->config_values.sparse_checkout) ++ if (!the_repository->config_values.apply_sparse_checkout) die(_("this worktree is not sparse")); argc = parse_options(argc, argv, prefix, @@ builtin/sparse-checkout.c: static int set_config(struct repository *repo, static enum sparse_checkout_mode update_cone_mode(int *cone_mode) { /* If not specified, use previous definition of cone mode */ - if (*cone_mode == -1 && core_apply_sparse_checkout) -+ if (*cone_mode == -1 && the_repository->config_values.sparse_checkout) ++ if (*cone_mode == -1 && the_repository->config_values.apply_sparse_checkout) *cone_mode = core_sparse_checkout_cone; /* Set cone/non-cone mode appropriately */ - core_apply_sparse_checkout = 1; -+ the_repository->config_values.sparse_checkout = 1; ++ the_repository->config_values.apply_sparse_checkout = 1; if (*cone_mode == 1 || *cone_mode == -1) { core_sparse_checkout_cone = 1; -- 2.34.1