Re: [PATCH v3 2/3] sparse-checkout: custom tab completion

From: Lessley Dennington <lessleydennington@gmail.com>
Date: Jan 18, 2022, 17:56 UTC
Message-ID: <ee58a0d5-5773-238d-706f-3fb264b6e8db@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <xmqq7dayup5d.fsf@gitster.g>

On 1/17/22 11:40 AM, Junio C Hamano wrote:

Show 22 quoted lines

> Elijah Newren <newren@gmail.com> writes:
> 
>> I'm not sure I follow.  READM<TAB> already doesn't complete to
>> README.md in the following example command lines:
>>     'cd READM<TAB>'
>>     'ssh READM<TAB>'
> 
> If the example were "ls READM<TAB>", it would have been worth the
> time to read and think about this again, but all users expect "cd"
> to go into directories, and "ssh" to go visit another host, and
> taking a local filename as a hint to complete would be nonsense.
> 
> But that is not what we are talking about (and it is frustrating
> that you know it).
> 
> To users, what sparse-checkout takes look like local pathnames, not
> necessarily limited to directory names (if you disagree, go back and
> read what SZEDER wrote to trigger this thread).
> 
> I know it is your preference to complete only directories and
> exclude filenames, but I question if the confusion such a design
> causes to end-users is worth it.

I think perhaps we're a little caught up in exemplifying commands that are unrelated to sparse-checkout. As Elijah said in [1], the documentation states that directories and patterns are acceptable to sparse-checkout but not files. While it is not reasonable to try to offer every pattern a user could possibly pass to sparse-checkout, it is reasonable to offer directories and (in my opinion) will help guide users toward correct usage of the command.

However, since completion on directories is cone-mode-specific, I am willing to accept the suggestion to only complete directories if we are in a cone-mode sparse-checkout and apply it in v4 of this series.

[1]: https://lore.kernel.org/git/CABPp-BErg-RtyycXaRXYfQHEQXA4q-FU9Q6nYkSHJsqL-04oXw@mail.gmail.com/