Re: [PATCH 0/1] blame: Skip missing ignore-revs file

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Aug 7, 2021, 20:58 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqqr1f5hszw.fsf@gitster.g>
In-Reply-To: <20210807202752.1278672-1-noah.pendleton@gmail.com>

Noah Pendleton <noah.pendleton@gmail.com> writes:

> Setting a global `blame.ignoreRevsFile` can be convenient, since I
> usually use `.git-blame-ignore-revs` in repos. If the file is missing,
> though, `git blame` exits with failure. This patch changes it to skip
> over non-existent ignore-rev files instead of erroring.

That cuts both ways, though. Failing upon missing configuration file is a way to catch misconfiguration that is hard to diagnose.

I wonder if we can easily learn where the configuration variable came from in the codepath that diagnoses it as a misconfiguration.

If it came from a per-repo configuration and names a non-existent file, it clearly is a misconfiguration that we want to flag as an error. Even if it came from a per-user configuration, if it was specified in a conditionally included file, it is likely to be a misconfiguration. If it came from a per-user configuration that applies without any condition, it can be a good convenience feature to silently (or with a warning) ignore missing file.