# [PATCH] replace: stop replace lookup when reaching a self-reference

2 messages from 2019-08-29 to 2019-08-29. Participants: Mike Hommey, Jeff King.
Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/51771

## Mike Hommey, 2019-08-29 11:22

Subject: [PATCH] replace: stop replace lookup when reaching a self-reference
Message-ID: <20190829112249.32262-1-mh@glandium.org>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/20190829112249.32262-1-mh%40glandium.org

```
It is possible to end up in situations where a replace ref points to
itself. In that case, it would seem better to stop the lookup rather
than try to follow the link infinitely and fail with "replace depth too
high".

Signed-off-by: Mike Hommey <mh@glandium.org>
---
 replace-object.c | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

I'm not entirely sure whether it's actually worth fixing. Arguably, `git
replace` should also avoid the footgun in the first place (although in
my case, it wasn't due to `git replace` itself).

diff --git a/replace-object.c b/replace-object.c
index e295e87943..97e479fe2b 100644
--- a/replace-object.c
+++ b/replace-object.c
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ const struct object_id *do_lookup_replace_object(struct repository *r,
 	while (depth-- > 0) {
 		struct replace_object *repl_obj =
 			oidmap_get(r->objects->replace_map, cur);
-		if (!repl_obj)
+		if (!repl_obj || oideq(cur, &repl_obj->replacement))
 			return cur;
 		cur = &repl_obj->replacement;
 	}
-- 
2.23.0


```

## Jeff King, 2019-08-29 13:52

Subject: Re: [PATCH] replace: stop replace lookup when reaching a self-reference
Message-ID: <20190829135213.GB1797@sigill.intra.peff.net>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/20190829135213.GB1797%40sigill.intra.peff.net
In-Reply-To: <20190829112249.32262-1-mh@glandium.org>

```
On Thu, Aug 29, 2019 at 08:22:49PM +0900, Mike Hommey wrote:

> It is possible to end up in situations where a replace ref points to
> itself. In that case, it would seem better to stop the lookup rather
> than try to follow the link infinitely and fail with "replace depth too
> high".

I don't think this is worth doing. It's just a special case (a 2-node
cycle in the replace graph) of a more general one (an n-node cycle).

We catch the general case with the depth counter (though of course there
are other techniques, which we could debate). Is it worth adding extra
code to cover this special one?

> I'm not entirely sure whether it's actually worth fixing. Arguably, `git
> replace` should also avoid the footgun in the first place (although in
> my case, it wasn't due to `git replace` itself).

Yes, if "git replace $OID $OID" does not complain, it probably should.

Perhaps it should even confirm that the replacement can be resolved, and
does not point to the original object. That covers the n-node case, as
well.

-Peff

```