git/list[1] front-page[2] threads[3] people[4] search[5] about
 

[PATCH v2 0/1] diff: release all handles before running external diff

From
Johannes Schindelin via GitGitGadget <gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
Date
Jul 11, 2019, 08:23 UTC
Message-ID
<pull.213.v2.git.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To
<pull.213.git.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>

On Windows, it is not possible to overwrite a file as long as any process holds a read handle to it. Even keeping regions memory-mapped prevents that.

When git difftool calls git diff, it might be the user's intention to write the file(s) via the diff tool, so let's make sure that they are not memory-mapped at that stage.

Changes since v1:
 * Clarified in the commit message that even mapped regions block
   writes/deletes.
 * The diff file pair is now released unconditionally, not only when it is
   mapped, for consistency (the CI build did not fail, and a cursory
   inspection of the code paths indicates that this should be safe, as from
   this point on only the external command accesses the file pair's
   contents, and they had to be written out to disk to that end).
Johannes Schindelin (1):
  diff: munmap() file contents before running external diff
 diff.c | 2 ++
 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+)
base-commit: aa25c82427ae70aebf3b8f970f2afd54e9a2a8c6
Published-As: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/releases/tag/pr-213%2Fdscho%2Fmunmap-before-ext-diff-v2
Fetch-It-Via: git fetch https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git pr-213/dscho/munmap-before-ext-diff-v2
Pull-Request: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/pull/213
Range-diff vs v1:
 1:  bef83fc20b ! 1:  8a0213291b diff: munmap() file contents before running external diff
     @@ -5,11 +5,15 @@
          When running an external diff from, say, a diff tool, it is safe to
          assume that we want to write the files in question. On Windows, that
          means that there cannot be any other process holding an open handle to
     -    said files.
     +    said files, or even just a mapped region.
      
          So let's make sure that `git diff` itself is not holding any open handle
          to the files in question.
      
     +    In fact, we will just release the file pair right away, as the external
     +    diff uses the files we just wrote, so we do not need to hold the file
     +    contents in memory anymore.
     +
          This fixes https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/issues/1315
      
          Signed-off-by: Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de>
     @@ -21,10 +25,8 @@
       	argv_array_pushf(&env, "GIT_DIFF_PATH_COUNTER=%d", ++o->diff_path_counter);
       	argv_array_pushf(&env, "GIT_DIFF_PATH_TOTAL=%d", q->nr);
       
     -+	if (one && one->should_munmap)
     -+		diff_free_filespec_data(one);
     -+	if (two && two->should_munmap)
     -+		diff_free_filespec_data(two);
     ++	diff_free_filespec_data(one);
     ++	diff_free_filespec_data(two);
       	if (run_command_v_opt_cd_env(argv.argv, RUN_USING_SHELL, NULL, env.argv))
       		die(_("external diff died, stopping at %s"), name);
       
-- 
gitgitgadget
Previous: Junio C HamanoNext: Johannes Schindelin via GitGitGadget
Message 6 of 8 in “diff: release all handles before running external diff”
  1. 0/1 diff: release all handles before running external diffJohannes Schindelin via GitGitGadget, Jul 4, 2019
  2. 1/1 diff: munmap() file contents before running external diffJohannes Schindelin via GitGitGadget, Jul 4, 2019
  3. Junio C HamanoJul 8, 2019
  4. Johannes SchindelinJul 10, 2019
  5. Junio C HamanoJul 8, 2019
  6. 0/1 diff: release all handles before running external diffJohannes Schindelin via GitGitGadget, Jul 11, 2019
  7. 1/1 diff: munmap() file contents before running external diffJohannes Schindelin via GitGitGadget, Jul 11, 2019
  8. Junio C HamanoJul 11, 2019

Read the whole thread, see it on lore, or plain text.

$ cat FOOTERMessages come from the public archive at lore.kernel.org/git, fetched every hour. The front page is chosen and written each morning by an AI editor and can be wrong; the threads themselves are the record. About and API. For agents: an MCP server at https://gitlist.dev/mcp, and any thread, story or person page as Markdown by adding .md to its URL (or sending Accept: text/markdown). Details in /llms.txt.