Re: [PATCH] config: use GIT_CONFIG in git config sequence

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Apr 26, 2020, 22:32 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqqsggp98to.fsf@gitster.c.googlers.com>
In-Reply-To: <xmqqwo627xsd.fsf@gitster.c.googlers.com>

Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> writes:

Show 14 quoted lines

> Philip Oakley <philipoakley@iee.email> writes:
>
>> Mateusz's original problem was with discovery of these env variables,...
>
> I somehow doubt it.  
>
> Certainly, defeating /etc/gitconfig should be a part of the solution
> to the "I want a stable environment to run tests reproducibly,
> without getting affected by random settings the testing user may get
> affected" problem.  It is not enough to defeat $HOME/.gitconfig (and
> its xdg variant).
>
> But I didn't get the feeling that Mateusz was even aware of the need
> ...

After re-reading the patch that started this thread, I suspect the reason Mateusz did not mention GIT_CONFIG_NOSYSTEM could be because he was aware of the need to defeat /etc/gitconfig, and was already using it. There was no discovery issue---to somebody who would propose the patch under discussion to solve "I want a stable environment for testing", /etc/gitconfig was a solved problem.

And unfortunately we do not have GIT_CONFIG_NO_GLOBAL; so there is nothing to discover there, either X-<. If we were to add such an environment, we need to make sure that it is discoverable ;-)

I still think setting up a directory that can be used as a stable $HOME replacement and pointing at it during the test, while declining the system-wide one with GIT_CONFIG_NOSYSTEM, is the right approach for "stable test environment" problem.