# [bug (maybe)] Applying patch with '---' 3 messages from 2015-04-01 to 2015-04-01. Participants: Chris Packham, Junio C Hamano. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/38969 ## Chris Packham, 2015-04-01 02:37 Subject: [bug (maybe)] Applying patch with '---' Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CAFOYHZC6Qd9wkoWPcTJDxAs9u%3DFGpHQTkjE-guhwkya0DRVA6g%40mail.gmail.com ``` Hi List, So I was just sent a patch generated with 'git format-patch' that 'git am' fails to apply correctly. It applies but part of the commit message is lost. The problem is that the commit message has lines like --- Foo happened did some things to handle Foo --- Bar happened Still processing update from Foo which led to a crash git mailinfo seems to discard everything after the first '--- Blah'. I know ^---$ is special but I thought ^---.+$ would be OK. I know git mailinfo shouldn't handle garbage input but I guess the problem I have is that the patch was generated by git format-patch so surely git mailinfo (and therefore git am) _should_ handle something generated by generated by git format-patch. Do people agree with my thinking? I'm not sure if it would be appropriate for git format-patch to produce a warning or for git mailinfo to tighten the matching of '---'. Regards, Chris ``` ## Junio C Hamano, 2015-04-01 06:20 Subject: Re: [bug (maybe)] Applying patch with '---' Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/xmqqy4mcmkt2.fsf%40gitster.dls.corp.google.com In-Reply-To: ``` Chris Packham writes: > So I was just sent a patch generated with 'git format-patch' that 'git > am' fails to apply correctly. It applies but part of the commit > message is lost. > > The problem is that the commit message has lines like > > --- Foo happened > did some things to handle Foo > --- Bar happened > Still processing update from Foo which led to a crash > > git mailinfo seems to discard everything after the first '--- Blah'. Yes, this is well known. So is a line that begins with "diff --git" makes mailinfo to guess that it is the end of the log message. > ... I know git > mailinfo shouldn't handle garbage input but I guess the problem I have > is that the patch was generated by git format-patch ... Whatever message you write format-patch emits without escaping, so "patch was generated by format-patch" does not guarantee anything, unfortunately. A related similar issue is that a line that begins with "From " may be corrupted into a line that begins with ">From " by the time the message hits your mailbox. These are unfortunately something you have to know and long-time users learned to avoid doing so unconsciously ;-). ``` ## Chris Packham, 2015-04-01 08:06 Subject: Re: [bug (maybe)] Applying patch with '---' Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CAFOYHZDYcF0%3DkH%3DL2CZ5%3D4DBUaGoJihVE9J%3Ds%3DuuoJQhGGd5yA%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: ``` On Wed, Apr 1, 2015 at 7:20 PM, Junio C Hamano wrote: > Chris Packham writes: > >> So I was just sent a patch generated with 'git format-patch' that 'git >> am' fails to apply correctly. It applies but part of the commit >> message is lost. >> >> The problem is that the commit message has lines like >> >> --- Foo happened >> did some things to handle Foo >> --- Bar happened >> Still processing update from Foo which led to a crash >> >> git mailinfo seems to discard everything after the first '--- Blah'. > > Yes, this is well known. So is a line that begins with "diff --git" > makes mailinfo to guess that it is the end of the log message. > So it looks like code in mailinfo.c to handle --- a/file +++ b/file Also interprets --- Blah more text as the start of the patch portion. Perhaps mailinfo could search for both the --- and +++ lines before deciding it's the patch portion has started. Or search for "diff -" first and work backwards towards to drop text up to the "---". >> ... I know git >> mailinfo shouldn't handle garbage input but I guess the problem I have >> is that the patch was generated by git format-patch ... > > Whatever message you write format-patch emits without escaping, so > "patch was generated by format-patch" does not guarantee anything, > unfortunately. A related similar issue is that a line that begins > with "From " may be corrupted into a line that begins with ">From " > by the time the message hits your mailbox. These are unfortunately > something you have to know and long-time users learned to avoid > doing so unconsciously ;-). So perhaps the newer users need some training wheels built into format-patch :). It'd actually annoy me if it was too intrusive as I actually use --- as a light weight alternative to git-notes for commentary I want to include with a patch submission. But a message saying "if you send this verbatim commit message text will be lost" would at least let the user know that something needs attention . ```