threads / patch / 37967

patchgit-config: git-config --list fixed when GIT_CONFIG value starts with ~/

Subject: [PATCH 1/1] git-config: git-config --list fixed when GIT_CONFIG value starts with ~/

## tl;dr

6 messages between Nov 14, 2014 and Nov 14, 2014. Diffs are folded; open one to read it.

replies: 5people: 4as markdown or json

0xAX· Nov 14, 2014, 18:29 UTC · lore

When we execute git config --list and $GIT_CONFIG value starts with home prefix - ~/ it produces folowing error - fatal: unable to read config file '~/.gitconfig': No such file or directory. This patch fixed it with expand_user_path for configuration file path before git-config --list call.

Signed-off-by: Alex Kuleshov <kuleshovmail@gmial.com>
Signed-off-by: 0xAX <kuleshovmail@gmail.com>
---
 builtin/config.c | 2 ++
 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+)
Show changes to builtin/config.c +2 −0
diff --git a/builtin/config.c b/builtin/config.c
index 7bba516..df1bee0 100644
--- a/builtin/config.c
+++ b/builtin/config.c
@@ -540,6 +540,8 @@ int cmd_config(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 
 	if (actions == ACTION_LIST) {
 		check_argc(argc, 0, 0);
+		const char* newpath = expand_user_path(given_config_source.file);
+		given_config_source.file = newpath;
 		if (git_config_with_options(show_all_config, NULL,
 					    &given_config_source,
 					    respect_includes) < 0) {
-- 
2.1.3.17.g7fa1365.dirty
Eric Sunshine· Nov 14, 2014, 19:19 UTC · re: 0xAX · lore

Re: [PATCH 1/1] git-config: git-config --list fixed when GIT_CONFIG value starts with ~/

On Fri, Nov 14, 2014 at 1:29 PM, 0xAX <kuleshovmail@gmail.com> wrote:
Show 5 quoted lines
> When we execute git config --list and $GIT_CONFIG value starts with home
> prefix - ~/ it produces folowing error - fatal: unable to read config
> file '~/.gitconfig': No such file or directory. This patch fixed it with
> expand_user_path for configuration file path before git-config --list
> call.

Is this special case really warranted? Elsewhere, GIT_CONFIG does not get this sort of special treatment. Moreover, it appears that no other GIT_* environment variable is subject to such special treatment. (And, generally speaking, on Unix, it is generally assumed that a path assigned to an environment variable is to be used as-is.)

> Signed-off-by: Alex Kuleshov <kuleshovmail@gmial.com>
s/gmial/gmail/
Show 15 quoted lines
> Signed-off-by: 0xAX <kuleshovmail@gmail.com>
> ---
>  builtin/config.c | 2 ++
>  1 file changed, 2 insertions(+)
>
> diff --git a/builtin/config.c b/builtin/config.c
> index 7bba516..df1bee0 100644
> --- a/builtin/config.c
> +++ b/builtin/config.c
> @@ -540,6 +540,8 @@ int cmd_config(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
>
>         if (actions == ACTION_LIST) {
>                 check_argc(argc, 0, 0);
> +               const char* newpath = expand_user_path(given_config_source.file);
> +               given_config_source.file = newpath;
A few issues:
(1) Style: s/char* /char */
(2) Avoid declaration (of 'newpath') after statement.

(3) You can drop 'newpath' altogether and just assign the result of expand_user_path() directly to given_config_source.file.

This code is potentially leaking the old value of given_config_source.file, and (later) the new value, however, as given_config_source.file is already being leaked elsewhere, it probably does not make the situation much worse.

Show 5 quoted lines
>                 if (git_config_with_options(show_all_config, NULL,
>                                             &given_config_source,
>                                             respect_includes) < 0) {
> --
> 2.1.3.17.g7fa1365.dirty
Jeff King· Nov 14, 2014, 19:30 UTC · re: Eric Sunshine · lore

Re: [PATCH 1/1] git-config: git-config --list fixed when GIT_CONFIG value starts with ~/

On Fri, Nov 14, 2014 at 02:19:41PM -0500, Eric Sunshine wrote:
Show 12 quoted lines
> On Fri, Nov 14, 2014 at 1:29 PM, 0xAX <kuleshovmail@gmail.com> wrote:
> > When we execute git config --list and $GIT_CONFIG value starts with home
> > prefix - ~/ it produces folowing error - fatal: unable to read config
> > file '~/.gitconfig': No such file or directory. This patch fixed it with
> > expand_user_path for configuration file path before git-config --list
> > call.
> 
> Is this special case really warranted? Elsewhere, GIT_CONFIG does not
> get this sort of special treatment. Moreover, it appears that no other
> GIT_* environment variable is subject to such special treatment. (And,
> generally speaking, on Unix, it is generally assumed that a path
> assigned to an environment variable is to be used as-is.)

Yeah, I'd agree it is a little unexpected to expand here. The "~" is mostly a shell thing, and doing:

  GIT_CONFIG=~/.gitconfig git config --list

from the shell generally works, because the shell will expand the "~" before it even hits git. If you're not using a shell to set the variable, you probably should be pre-expanding it yourself.

Note that this code path affects "git config --file=~/.gitconfig", too. At least there it would be a little bit useful because the shell will not expand for you, but it still feels a bit unconventional to me.

Show 13 quoted lines
> >  builtin/config.c | 2 ++
> >  1 file changed, 2 insertions(+)
> >
> > diff --git a/builtin/config.c b/builtin/config.c
> > index 7bba516..df1bee0 100644
> > --- a/builtin/config.c
> > +++ b/builtin/config.c
> > @@ -540,6 +540,8 @@ int cmd_config(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
> >
> >         if (actions == ACTION_LIST) {
> >                 check_argc(argc, 0, 0);
> > +               const char* newpath = expand_user_path(given_config_source.file);
> > +               given_config_source.file = newpath;

If we _were_ going to do such an expansion, this is absolutely the wrong place for it. It works only for the "--list" action; if we are going to expand it, we would want to do so everywhere. And we do not even know if given_config_source.file is non-NULL here (we could be reading from stdin, or a blob). Fortunately expand_user_path will pass through a NULL without segfaulting.

Probably the right place would be the if/else chain around builtin/config.c:514, where we convert a relative path into an absolute one. But I'm not convinced it's a good thing to be doing in the first place.

-Peff
Alex Kuleshov· Nov 14, 2014, 19:38 UTC · re: Jeff King · lore

Re: [PATCH 1/1] git-config: git-config --list fixed when GIT_CONFIG value starts with ~/

Hello Eric and Jeff,
Show 14 quoted lines
>Eric Sunshine
>A few issues:
>
>(1) Style: s/char* /char */
>
>(2) Avoid declaration (of 'newpath') after statement.
>
>(3) You can drop 'newpath' altogether and just assign the result of
>expand_user_path() directly to given_config_source.file.
>
>This code is potentially leaking the old value of
>given_config_source.file, and (later) the new value, however, as
>given_config_source.file is already being leaked elsewhere, it
>probably does not make the situation much worse.

It is my first patch to git's code base, so many thanks for your feedback, i'll fix these issues if there will be need in this patch.

Show 10 quoted lines
>Jeff King <peff@peff.net>
>
> Yeah, I'd agree it is a little unexpected to expand here. The "~" is
> mostly a shell thing, and doing:
>
>   GIT_CONFIG=~/.gitconfig git config --list
>
> from the shell generally works, because the shell will expand the "~"
> before it even hits git. If you're not using a shell to set the
> variable, you probably should be pre-expanding it yourself.

Yes, you're right here, but i put GIT_CONFIG=~/.gitconfig to my .bashrc and it doesn't work so.

Show 32 quoted lines
>
> Note that this code path affects "git config --file=~/.gitconfig", too.
> At least there it would be a little bit useful because the shell will
> not expand for you, but it still feels a bit unconventional to me.
>
>> >  builtin/config.c | 2 ++
>> >  1 file changed, 2 insertions(+)
>> >
>> > diff --git a/builtin/config.c b/builtin/config.c
>> > index 7bba516..df1bee0 100644
>> > --- a/builtin/config.c
>> > +++ b/builtin/config.c
>> > @@ -540,6 +540,8 @@ int cmd_config(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
>> >
>> >         if (actions == ACTION_LIST) {
>> >                 check_argc(argc, 0, 0);
>> > +               const char* newpath = expand_user_path(given_config_source.file);
>> > +               given_config_source.file = newpath;
>
> If we _were_ going to do such an expansion, this is absolutely the wrong
> place for it. It works only for the "--list" action; if we are going to
> expand it, we would want to do so everywhere. And we do not even know if
> given_config_source.file is non-NULL here (we could be reading from
> stdin, or a blob). Fortunately expand_user_path will pass through a NULL
> without segfaulting.
>
> Probably the right place would be the if/else chain around
> builtin/config.c:514, where we convert a relative path into an absolute
> one. But I'm not convinced it's a good thing to be doing in the first
> place.
>
> -Peff

What if we'll put path expanding right after getting value of file path, after given_config_source.file = getenv(CONFIG_ENVIRONMENT); at 451?

Thank you.

-- Best regards. 0xAX

Jeff King· Nov 14, 2014, 20:04 UTC · re: Alex Kuleshov · lore

Re: [PATCH 1/1] git-config: git-config --list fixed when GIT_CONFIG value starts with ~/

On Sat, Nov 15, 2014 at 01:38:36AM +0600, Alex Kuleshov wrote:
Show 11 quoted lines
> > Yeah, I'd agree it is a little unexpected to expand here. The "~" is
> > mostly a shell thing, and doing:
> >
> >   GIT_CONFIG=~/.gitconfig git config --list
> >
> > from the shell generally works, because the shell will expand the "~"
> > before it even hits git. If you're not using a shell to set the
> > variable, you probably should be pre-expanding it yourself.
> 
> Yes, you're right here, but i put GIT_CONFIG=~/.gitconfig to my .bashrc
> and it doesn't work so.

Weird. It seems to work fine for me (though I admit I only did a pretty cursory test).

Show 7 quoted lines
> > Probably the right place would be the if/else chain around
> > builtin/config.c:514, where we convert a relative path into an absolute
> > one. But I'm not convinced it's a good thing to be doing in the first
> > place.
> >
> What if we'll put path expanding right after getting value of file path,
> after given_config_source.file = getenv(CONFIG_ENVIRONMENT); at 451?

That is a good place to put it if you want to impact $GIT_CONFIG but not "--file". I am not sure if that is sensible. But then, I am not sure that I am convinced that we should be making any change at all.

-Peff
Junio C Hamano· Nov 14, 2014, 20:10 UTC · re: 0xAX · lore

Re: [PATCH 1/1] git-config: git-config --list fixed when GIT_CONFIG value starts with ~/

0xAX <kuleshovmail@gmail.com> writes:
Show 5 quoted lines
> When we execute git config --list and $GIT_CONFIG value starts with home
> prefix - ~/ it produces folowing error - fatal: unable to read config
> file '~/.gitconfig': No such file or directory. This patch fixed it with
> expand_user_path for configuration file path before git-config --list
> call.

Expanding tilde ~ in environment variables is what you let your shell do when you assign it. This is not limited to Git:

    $ FOO=~/.bashrc
    $ BAR='~/.bashrc'
    $ head -n 1 "$FOO"
    # Bourne Again SHell init file.
    $ head -n 1 "$BAR"
    head: cannot open ‘~/.bashrc’ for reading: No such file rdirectory
    $ echo "FOO=$FOO" "BAR=$BAR"
    FOO=/home/gitster/.bashrc BAR=~/.bashrc
The patch does not fix anything and not necessary.

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