Re: [PATCH v9 3/5] bugreport: gather git version and build info

Emily Shaffer <emilyshaffer@google.com> writes:

Good.  

Do make sure to give us the same information as if the end user
typed that command from the command line.  There may be more than
one directory on $PATH that has "git" in it; we want to see the one
that is giving trouble to the end user, not necessarily the one that
came from the same source as running "git bugreport" was compiled
from, so it is a good idea not to rely on the contents of static
git_version_string[] array that came in libgit.a that the bugreport
tool happened to be linked with.
   
It may not be in the scope of this step, but we'd want to see
versions of executables for the python interpreter (2vs3), the
tcl/tk interpreter (i.e. wish), the shell (i.e. bash, dash, etc.).

In addition to them, we would want to see versions of some of our own binaries (i.e. "git", and transports that are separate executable files). It would lead to a confusing diagnositic session if the end-user's PATH has /usr/bin and then $HOME/bin, and the end-user has a newer version of "git" with "bugreport" only in $HOME/bin. The user may think s/he is using the latest self-compiled "git", and "bugreport" might even agree if it trusts anything determined when "bugreport" was compiled, but in reality the version of "git" used largely was coming from "/usr/bin" except for any new subcommands, or something silly like that, and asking the environment just like the end user does is the only way to make sure we are getting the true piture.

Thanks.