Re: [PATCH] ci: run `make sparse` as a GitHub workflow

From: Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de>
Date: Jul 14, 2021, 09:09 UTC
Message-ID: <nycvar.QRO.7.76.6.2107141052350.76@tvgsbejvaqbjf.bet>
In-Reply-To: <f305f586-c3ac-a2ef-8769-5468a4c3e539@gmail.com>

Hi Philippe,

On Tue, 13 Jul 2021, Philippe Blain wrote:

Show 12 quoted lines

> Le 2021-07-13 à 07:51, Johannes Schindelin via GitGitGadget a écrit :
> > From: Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de>
> >
> > Occasionally we receive reviews after patches were integrated, where
> > `sparse` identified problems such as file-local variables or functions
> > being declared as global.
> >
> > By running `sparse`
>
> maybe here, we could add a link to https://sparse.docs.kernel.org/en/latest/,
> so interested readers who do not know about "sparse" can go and learn
> about it ?

Good point.

Show 20 quoted lines

> > as part of our Continuous Integration, we can catch
> > such things much earlier. Even better: developers who activated GitHub
> > Actions on their forks can catch such issues before even sending their
> > patches to the Git mailing list.
> >
> > This addresses https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/issues/345
> >
> > Signed-off-by: Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de>
>
> > +    - name: Download the `sparse` package
> > +      uses: git-for-windows/get-azure-pipelines-artifact@v0
> > +      with:
> > +        repository: git/git
> > +        definitionId: 10
> > +        artifact: sparse-20.04
> > +    - name: Install the `sparse` package
> > +      run: sudo dpkg -i sparse-20.04/sparse_*.deb
>
> Out of curiosity, why is this necessary (as opposed to using
> the Ubuntu package, i.e. 'sudo apt-get -q -y sparse') ?

This is actually a historical curiosity: years ago, I created an Azure Pipeline that builds the `sparse` Debian package for the specific purpose of using it in our CI builds (if you care to look at the issue 345 I linked above, you will see how long ago that idea was in the making). Now, the historical curiosity is that back then, there was no current `sparse` package available for Ubuntu, and Ramsay mentioned that a newer version would be required to run `make sparse`.

And when I implemented this patch yesterday, I did not even question this, I was just happy that I had come up with the GitHub Action `get-azure-pipelines-artifact` (to help with the `vcpkg` part of our CI builds).

I was already writing a detailed paragraph in the commit message to explain all that when it occurred to me that two years might make a big difference and an up to date `sparse` might be available. And lo and behold, this is the case!

Therefore, v2 will no longer jump through that hoop.

Ciao, Dscho