Re: Syntax for specifying a command in git config

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: May 12, 2021, 03:25 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqqtun8hbvn.fsf@gitster.g>
In-Reply-To: <YJsiKDNbKclFU00b@coredump.intra.peff.net>

Jeff King <peff@peff.net> writes:

Show 9 quoted lines

>> 	git send-email --smtp-server="/usr/bin/env msmtp"
>> 	git send-email --smtp-server="!my-msa --emulate-sendmail"
>
> Yes, the patch under discussion does apply to both the command-line
> option and the config option (and I agree it should).
>
> I didn't think about arguments, but you're right that may be a useful
> feature. And if done via the shell, as brian suggested elsewhere, would
> be more consistent with other parts of Git using "!" syntax.

Heh, it was my tongue-in-cheek way to say we do not need this '!' new feature, as long as everybody has 'env' in /usr/bin ;-)

Show 10 quoted lines

> It does make things a little weird in that:
>
>   git send-email --smtp-server='/path/to/my-sendmail foo'
>
> and
>
>   git send-email --smtp-server '!my-sendmail foo'
>
> behave differently (the first does not work; it looks for an executable
> with a space in the name).

True. Hopefully we do not have to worry about $IFS whitespaces in an absolute path to the mail submission program? ... Nah, that's a wishful thinking.

But then nobody stops you from saying

	git send-email --smtp-server '!/path/to/my-sendmail foo'

so it probably is OK. We can gradually deprecate the "absolute path" form and standardise on the "!prefix" form.