Re: [PATCH v2] clone: add clone.<url>.defaultObjectFilter config
- From
- Alan Braithwaite <alan@braithwaite.dev>
- Date
- Mar 5, 2026, 23:11 UTC
- Message-ID
- <f0521097-1ec6-4e47-88d5-8c5be47ded3b@app.fastmail.com>
- In-Reply-To
- <xmqqcy1i3xt4.fsf@gitster.g>
Junio C Hamano wrote:
Show 5 quoted lines
> This is unlike how http.<url>.<var> configuration variables work, > and while I can see that server operators may not want to see users > set clone.defaultObjectFilter and affect traffic with _all_ sites, I > am afraid that this design choice may appear a bit counter-intuitive > to end users.
Funny enough, I actually prefer that but gathered from the previous commentary that it wasn't desired. I'd be more than content to add it.
Junio C Hamano wrote:
> I cannot convince myself that a new structure only to hold a single > "char *" member is not over-engineering. Wouldn't it work equally > well (unless you have an immediate plan to add more members to the > struct, that is):
You're right, it's been a while I've written C. Thanks for catching that. I think my mind was going somewhere else with it, but YAGNI.
Junio C Hamano wrote:
> However, I think you want to leave the .cascade_fn NULL; you do not > want urlmatch_config_entry() to call git_clone_config() AGAIN on the > configuration variables, as the first call to repo_config() before > we call parse_options() should have already handled them, no?
Good catch. I'll fix it. Will set cascade_fn to NULL so the second pass only looks at clone.<url>.defaultObjectFilter entries.
Thanks for the review and for your patience as I shake the gopher out of me and figure out how to do real programming again.
Thanks, - Alan
On Thu, Mar 5, 2026, at 11:01, Junio C Hamano wrote:
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> "Alan Braithwaite via GitGitGadget" <gitgitgadget@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> From: Alan Braithwaite <alan@braithwaite.dev>
>>
>> Add a new configuration option that lets users specify a default
>> partial clone filter per URL pattern. When cloning a repository
>> whose URL matches a configured pattern, git-clone automatically
>> applies the filter, equivalent to passing --filter on the command
>> line.
>>
>> [clone "https://github.com/"]
>> defaultObjectFilter = blob:limit=5m
>>
>> [clone "https://internal.corp.com/large-project/"]
>> defaultObjectFilter = blob:none
>>
>> URL matching uses the existing urlmatch_config_entry() infrastructure,
>> following the same rules as http.<url>.* — you can match a domain,
>> a namespace path, or a specific project, and the most specific match
>> wins.
>>
>> The config only affects the initial clone. Once the clone completes,
>> the filter is recorded in remote.<name>.partialCloneFilter, so
>> subsequent fetches inherit it automatically. An explicit --filter
>> flag on the command line takes precedence.
>
> The motivation behind the change is clearly described. Reusing the
> existing urlmatch_config_entry() infrastructure is very appropriate
> as it makes the feature intuitive for those familiar with
> http.<url>.* settings.
>
>> Only the URL-qualified form (clone.<url>.defaultObjectFilter) is
>> honored; a bare clone.defaultObjectFilter without a URL subsection
>> is ignored.
>
> This is unlike how http.<url>.<var> configuration variables work,
> and while I can see that server operators may not want to see users
> set clone.defaultObjectFilter and affect traffic with _all_ sites, I
> am afraid that this design choice may appear a bit counter-intuitive
> to end users.
>
>
>> Signed-off-by: Alan Braithwaite <alan@braithwaite.dev>
>
>> Documentation/config/clone.adoc | 26 ++++++++++++
>> builtin/clone.c | 68 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>> t/t5616-partial-clone.sh | 73 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>> 3 files changed, 167 insertions(+)
>>
>> diff --git a/builtin/clone.c b/builtin/clone.c
>> index 45d8fa0eed..5e20b5343d 100644
>> --- a/builtin/clone.c
>> +++ b/builtin/clone.c
>> @@ -44,6 +44,7 @@
>> #include "path.h"
>> #include "pkt-line.h"
>> #include "list-objects-filter-options.h"
>> +#include "urlmatch.h"
>> #include "hook.h"
>> #include "bundle.h"
>> #include "bundle-uri.h"
>> @@ -757,6 +758,65 @@ static int git_clone_config(const char *k, const char *v,
>> return git_default_config(k, v, ctx, cb);
>> }
>>
>> +struct clone_filter_data {
>> + char *default_object_filter;
>> +};
>> +
>> +static int clone_filter_collect(const char *var, const char *value,
>> + const struct config_context *ctx UNUSED,
>> + void *cb)
>> +{
>> + struct clone_filter_data *data = cb;
>> +
>> + if (!strcmp(var, "clone.defaultobjectfilter")) {
>> + free(data->default_object_filter);
>> + data->default_object_filter = xstrdup(value);
>> + }
>> + return 0;
>> +}
>
> This will segfault with a "value-less truth", i.e.,
>
> [clone "<URL>"]
> defaultObjectFilter
>
> so there should be
>
> if (!value)
> return config_error_nonbool(var);
>
> in it.
>
> I cannot convince myself that a new structure only to hold a single
> "char *" member is not over-engineering. Wouldn't it work equally
> well (unless you have an immediate plan to add more members to the
> struct, that is):
>
> char **filter_spec_p = cb;
>
> if (!strcmp(var, "clone.defaultobjectfilter")) {
> if (!value)
> retgurn config_error_nonbool(var);
> free(*filter_spec_p);
> *filter_spec_p = xstrdup(value);
> }
> return 0;
>
>> +/*
>> + * Look up clone.<url>.defaultObjectFilter using the urlmatch
>> + * infrastructure. Only URL-qualified forms are supported; a bare
>> + * clone.defaultObjectFilter (without a URL) is ignored.
>> + */
>> +static char *get_default_object_filter(const char *url)
>> +{
>> + struct urlmatch_config config = URLMATCH_CONFIG_INIT;
>> + struct clone_filter_data data = { 0 };
>> + struct string_list_item *item;
>> + char *normalized_url;
>> +
>> + config.section = "clone";
>> + config.key = "defaultobjectfilter";
>> + config.collect_fn = clone_filter_collect;
>> + config.cascade_fn = git_clone_config;
>> + config.cb = &data;
>> +
>> + normalized_url = url_normalize(url, &config.url);
>> +
>> + repo_config(the_repository, urlmatch_config_entry, &config);
>> + free(normalized_url);
>
> This forces a second full scan of the configuration space. But it
> cannot be avoided, because the existing repo_config() call has to
> happen early before we call parse_options() to give us the
> configured default to overwrite with the command line, and we would
> not know what our URL is before we called parse_options().
>
> However, I thihk you want to leave the .cascade_fn NULL; you do not
> want urlmatch_config_entry() to call git_clone_config() AGAIN on the
> configuration variables, as the first call to repo_config() before
> we call parse_options() should have already handled them, no?
>
> Thanks.