threads / patch / 59145

patch, 2 partsgitk: handle long command-lines

Subject: [PATCH 0/2] gitk: handle long command-lines

## tl;dr

10 messages between Jan 24, 2023 and May 9, 2023. Diffs are folded; open one to read it.

replies: 9people: 5as markdown or json

Johannes Schindelin via GitGitGadget· Jan 24, 2023, 11:23 UTC · lore

These patches have been cooking for such a long time in Git for Windows that you might think they turned into broth. Yummy broth, to be sure. But broth. 'Tis beyond time for the patches to make it upstream.

Johannes Schindelin (1):
  gitk: prevent overly long command lines
Nico Rieck (1):
  gitk: escape file paths before piping to git log
 gitk | 36 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----
 1 file changed, 31 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
base-commit: 465f03869ae11acd04abfa1b83c67879c867410c
Published-As: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/releases/tag/pr-1469%2Fdscho%2Fgitk-long-cmdline-v1
Fetch-It-Via: git fetch https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git pr-1469/dscho/gitk-long-cmdline-v1
Pull-Request: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/pull/1469
-- 
gitgitgadget
Johannes Schindelin via GitGitGadget· Jan 24, 2023, 11:23 UTC · re: Johannes Schindelin via GitGitGadget · lore

[PATCH 1/2] gitk: prevent overly long command lines

From: Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de>

To avoid running into command line limitations, some of Git's commands support the `--stdin` option.

Let's use exactly this option in the three rev-list/log invocations in gitk that would otherwise possibly run the danger of trying to invoke a too-long command line.

While it is easy to redirect either stdin or stdout in Tcl/Tk scripts, what we need here is both. We need to capture the output, yet we also need to pipe in the revs/files arguments via stdin (because stdin does not have any limit, unlike the command line). To help this, we use the neat Tcl feature where you can capture stdout and at the same time feed a fixed string as stdin to the spawned process.

One non-obvious aspect about this change is that the `--stdin` option allows to specify revs, the double-dash, and files, but *no* other options such as `--not`. This is addressed by prefixing the "negative" revs with `^` explicitly rather than relying on the `--not` option (thanks for coming up with that idea, Max!).

This fixes https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/issues/1987
Analysis-and-initial-patch-by: Max Kirillov <max@max630.net>
Signed-off-by: Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de>
---
 gitk | 24 +++++++++++++++++++-----
 1 file changed, 19 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
Show changes to gitk +19 −5
diff --git a/gitk b/gitk
index 0ae7d685904..92375ca6a2a 100755
--- a/gitk
+++ b/gitk
@@ -405,14 +405,16 @@ proc start_rev_list {view} {
         if {$revs eq {}} {
             return 0
         }
-        set args [concat $vflags($view) $revs]
+        set args $vflags($view)
     } else {
+        set revs {}
         set args $vorigargs($view)
     }
 
     if {[catch {
         set fd [open [concat | git log --no-color -z --pretty=raw $show_notes \
-                        --parents --boundary $args "--" $files] r]
+                        --parents --boundary $args --stdin \
+                        "<<[join [concat $revs "--" $files] "\\n"]"] r]
     } err]} {
         error_popup "[mc "Error executing git log:"] $err"
         return 0
@@ -554,13 +556,19 @@ proc updatecommits {} {
             set revs $newrevs
             set vposids($view) [lsort -unique [concat $oldpos $vposids($view)]]
         }
-        set args [concat $vflags($view) $revs --not $oldpos]
+        set args $vflags($view)
+        foreach r $oldpos {
+                lappend revs "^$r"
+        }
     } else {
+        set revs {}
         set args $vorigargs($view)
     }
     if {[catch {
         set fd [open [concat | git log --no-color -z --pretty=raw $show_notes \
-                        --parents --boundary $args "--" $vfilelimit($view)] r]
+                        --parents --boundary $args --stdin \
+                        "<<[join [concat $revs "--" \
+                                $vfilelimit($view)] "\\n"]"] r]
     } err]} {
         error_popup "[mc "Error executing git log:"] $err"
         return
@@ -10231,10 +10239,16 @@ proc getallcommits {} {
             foreach id $seeds {
                 lappend ids "^$id"
             }
+            lappend ids "--"
         }
     }
     if {$ids ne {}} {
-        set fd [open [concat $cmd $ids] r]
+        if {$ids eq "--all"} {
+            set cmd [concat $cmd "--all"]
+        } else {
+            set cmd [concat $cmd --stdin "<<[join $ids "\\n"]"]
+        }
+        set fd [open $cmd r]
         fconfigure $fd -blocking 0
         incr allcommits
         nowbusy allcommits

-- 
gitgitgadget
Junio C Hamano· Jan 24, 2023, 15:38 UTC · re: Johannes Schindelin via GitGitGadget · lore

Re: [PATCH 1/2] gitk: prevent overly long command lines

"Johannes Schindelin via GitGitGadget" <gitgitgadget@gmail.com> writes:

Show 8 quoted lines
> From: Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de>
>
> To avoid running into command line limitations, some of Git's commands
> support the `--stdin` option.
>
> Let's use exactly this option in the three rev-list/log invocations in
> gitk that would otherwise possibly run the danger of trying to invoke a
> too-long command line.

Makes perfect sense. I do not know the point of saying exactly here, though.

Show 6 quoted lines
> While it is easy to redirect either stdin or stdout in Tcl/Tk scripts,
> what we need here is both. We need to capture the output, yet we also
> need to pipe in the revs/files arguments via stdin (because stdin does
> not have any limit, unlike the command line). To help this, we use the
> neat Tcl feature where you can capture stdout and at the same time feed
> a fixed string as stdin to the spawned process.

Nice, so this is not about "we may have too many args to fit in our memory", but about "we may have too many args for system to spawn the subprocess with".

> One non-obvious aspect about this change is that the `--stdin` option
> allows to specify revs, the double-dash, and files, but *no* other
> options such as `--not`.

It sounds like a design mistake, which may want to be fixed, but of course gitk cannot depend on Git it runs with having such a fix, and use of "^" prefix is a good alternative (after all, "--not" was invented to save us writing ^ in front of many revs).

Good.
Nico Rieck via GitGitGadget· Jan 24, 2023, 11:23 UTC · re: Johannes Schindelin via GitGitGadget · lore

[PATCH 2/2] gitk: escape file paths before piping to git log

From: Nico Rieck <nico.rieck@gmail.com>

We just started piping the file paths via `stdin` instead of passing them via the command-line, to avoid running into command-line limitations.

However, since we now pipe the file paths, we need to take care of special characters.

This fixes https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/issues/2293
Signed-off-by: Nico Rieck <nico.rieck@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de>
---
 gitk | 16 ++++++++++++++--
 1 file changed, 14 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
Show changes to gitk +14 −2
diff --git a/gitk b/gitk
index 92375ca6a2a..df3ba2ea99b 100755
--- a/gitk
+++ b/gitk
@@ -353,6 +353,16 @@ proc parseviewrevs {view revs} {
     return $ret
 }
 
+# Escapes a list of filter paths to be passed to git log via stdin. Note that
+# paths must not be quoted.
+proc escape_filter_paths {paths} {
+	set escaped [list]
+	foreach path $paths {
+		lappend escaped [string map {\\ \\\\ "\ " "\\\ "} $path]
+	}
+	return $escaped
+}
+
 # Start off a git log process and arrange to read its output
 proc start_rev_list {view} {
     global startmsecs commitidx viewcomplete curview
@@ -414,7 +424,8 @@ proc start_rev_list {view} {
     if {[catch {
         set fd [open [concat | git log --no-color -z --pretty=raw $show_notes \
                         --parents --boundary $args --stdin \
-                        "<<[join [concat $revs "--" $files] "\\n"]"] r]
+                        "<<[join [concat $revs "--" \
+                                [escape_filter_paths $files]] "\\n"]"] r]
     } err]} {
         error_popup "[mc "Error executing git log:"] $err"
         return 0
@@ -568,7 +579,8 @@ proc updatecommits {} {
         set fd [open [concat | git log --no-color -z --pretty=raw $show_notes \
                         --parents --boundary $args --stdin \
                         "<<[join [concat $revs "--" \
-                                $vfilelimit($view)] "\\n"]"] r]
+                                [escape_filter_paths \
+                                        $vfilelimit($view)]] "\\n"]"] r]
     } err]} {
         error_popup "[mc "Error executing git log:"] $err"
         return

-- 
gitgitgadget
Johannes Schindelin· Mar 27, 2023, 09:17 UTC · re: Johannes Schindelin via GitGitGadget · lore

Re: [PATCH 0/2] gitk: handle long command-lines

Hi Pau & Junio,

this patch series saw a positive review from Junio (thank you! I know that you try to stay away from Tcl code, so I appreciate the effort very much), but apart from that it simply languished on the mailing list for more than two months now.

Paul, is there anything I can do to help you integrate this into `gitk`? Or is it time to pass over `gitk` maintenance to the Git project?

Ciao, Johannes

On Tue, 24 Jan 2023, Johannes Schindelin via GitGitGadget wrote:
Show 21 quoted lines
> These patches have been cooking for such a long time in Git for Windows that
> you might think they turned into broth. Yummy broth, to be sure. But broth.
> 'Tis beyond time for the patches to make it upstream.
>
> Johannes Schindelin (1):
>   gitk: prevent overly long command lines
>
> Nico Rieck (1):
>   gitk: escape file paths before piping to git log
>
>  gitk | 36 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----
>  1 file changed, 31 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
>
>
> base-commit: 465f03869ae11acd04abfa1b83c67879c867410c
> Published-As: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/releases/tag/pr-1469%2Fdscho%2Fgitk-long-cmdline-v1
> Fetch-It-Via: git fetch https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git pr-1469/dscho/gitk-long-cmdline-v1
> Pull-Request: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/pull/1469
> --
> gitgitgadget
>
Felipe Contreras· Mar 27, 2023, 10:17 UTC · re: Johannes Schindelin · lore

Re: [PATCH 0/2] gitk: handle long command-lines

On Mon, Mar 27, 2023 at 3:41 AM Johannes Schindelin <Johannes.Schindelin@gmx.de> wrote:

> this patch series saw a positive review from Junio (thank you! I know that
> you try to stay away from Tcl code, so I appreciate the effort very much),
> but apart from that it simply languished on the mailing list for more than
> two months now.

Two months? My patch which contains an obvious fix [1] has been waiting almost two years.

> Paul, is there anything I can do to help you integrate this into `gitk`?
> Or is it time to pass over `gitk` maintenance to the Git project?
Or just remove it from the Git codebase and maintain it elsewhere.
[1] https://lore.kernel.org/git/20210505211846.1842824-1-felipe.contreras@gmail.com/
-- 
Felipe Contreras
Philip Oakley· May 6, 2023, 16:00 UTC · re: Johannes Schindelin · lore

Re: [PATCH 0/2] gitk: handle long command-lines

On 27/03/2023 10:17, Johannes Schindelin wrote:
Show 12 quoted lines
> Hi Pau & Junio,
>
> this patch series saw a positive review from Junio (thank you! I know that
> you try to stay away from Tcl code, so I appreciate the effort very much),
> but apart from that it simply languished on the mailing list for more than
> two months now.
>
> Paul, is there anything I can do to help you integrate this into `gitk`?
> Or is it time to pass over `gitk` maintenance to the Git project?
>
> Ciao,
> Johannes

I just tripped over this problem while trying to de-stack my Git backlog https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/issues/4408 "sdk gitk interaction".

Show 24 quoted lines
>
> On Tue, 24 Jan 2023, Johannes Schindelin via GitGitGadget wrote:
>
>> These patches have been cooking for such a long time in Git for Windows that
>> you might think they turned into broth. Yummy broth, to be sure. But broth.
>> 'Tis beyond time for the patches to make it upstream.
>>
>> Johannes Schindelin (1):
>>   gitk: prevent overly long command lines
>>
>> Nico Rieck (1):
>>   gitk: escape file paths before piping to git log
>>
>>  gitk | 36 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----
>>  1 file changed, 31 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
>>
>>
>> base-commit: 465f03869ae11acd04abfa1b83c67879c867410c
>> Published-As: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/releases/tag/pr-1469%2Fdscho%2Fgitk-long-cmdline-v1
>> Fetch-It-Via: git fetch https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git pr-1469/dscho/gitk-long-cmdline-v1
>> Pull-Request: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/pull/1469
>> --
>> gitgitgadget
>>
If there was a way to un-stick this [1] it would be great.

Philip [1] https://lore.kernel.org/git/pull.1469.git.1674559397.gitgitgadget@gmail.com/

Felipe Contreras· May 7, 2023, 21:35 UTC · re: Philip Oakley · lore

New canonical gitk url

Hello,
Philip Oakley wrote:
Show 21 quoted lines
> On 27/03/2023 10:17, Johannes Schindelin wrote:
> > Hi Pau & Junio,
> >
> > this patch series saw a positive review from Junio (thank you! I know that
> > you try to stay away from Tcl code, so I appreciate the effort very much),
> > but apart from that it simply languished on the mailing list for more than
> > two months now.
> >
> > Paul, is there anything I can do to help you integrate this into `gitk`?
> > Or is it time to pass over `gitk` maintenance to the Git project?
> 
> I just tripped over this problem while trying to de-stack my Git backlog
> https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/issues/4408 "sdk gitk interaction".
> 
> > On Tue, 24 Jan 2023, Johannes Schindelin via GitGitGadget wrote:
> >
> >> These patches have been cooking for such a long time in Git for Windows that
> >> you might think they turned into broth. Yummy broth, to be sure. But broth.
> >> 'Tis beyond time for the patches to make it upstream.
> 
> If there was a way to un-stick this [1] it would be great.

One of the main selling points of git is that it was a *distributed* version control system, which means there wasn't any centralized repository.

We are not forced to use Paul Mackerras' repository, so I created a fork that includes the outstanding patches [1]. Junio can simply pull from there from now on.

I don't want to maintain this, but as I've often found out is the case in open source: if I don't do it, nobody else will.

If anyone else wants to step up and maintain gitk, that would be great.
Cheers.
[1] https://github.com/felipec/gitk
-- 
Felipe Contreras
Junio C Hamano· May 8, 2023, 17:53 UTC · re: Philip Oakley · lore

Re: [PATCH 0/2] gitk: handle long command-lines

Philip Oakley <philipoakley@iee.email> writes:
Show 16 quoted lines
> On 27/03/2023 10:17, Johannes Schindelin wrote:
>> Hi Pau & Junio,
>>
>> this patch series saw a positive review from Junio (thank you! I know that
>> you try to stay away from Tcl code, so I appreciate the effort very much),
>> but apart from that it simply languished on the mailing list for more than
>> two months now.
>>
>> Paul, is there anything I can do to help you integrate this into `gitk`?
>> Or is it time to pass over `gitk` maintenance to the Git project?
>>
>> Ciao,
>> Johannes
>
> I just tripped over this problem while trying to de-stack my Git backlog
> https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/issues/4408 "sdk gitk interaction".

I have done the same "create temporary fork of gitk, queue the patches, merge the result down while asking Paul to pull from me" dance I did every once in a while in the past (it seems the last I did it was in Sep 2019 [*]).

 * The last merge from Paulus is ef9b086d (Merge branch 'master' of
   git://git.ozlabs.org/~paulus/gitk, 2022-05-11), whose second
   parent (i.e. Paulus's tip) was 465f0386 (gitk: include y coord in
   recorded sash position, 2022-02-20).
 * The two patches that originate from GfW have been applied on top
   of 465f0386 in the gitk history; the result of this is 7dd272ec
   (gitk: escape file paths before piping to git log, 2023-01-24).
 * The js/gitk-fixes-from-gfw topic holds a -Xsubtree=gitk-git merge
   of 7dd272ec into my tree.  This was merged to 'next' and
   hopefully will finish the usual 'next' to 'master' journey
   soonish.

Paul, can you fetch js/gitk-fixes-from-gfw branch of https://github.com/gitster/git/, which will give you 7dd272ec that you can use to

 $ git merge 7dd272ec
to obtain these two commits from Johannes and Nico?

Alternatively, you can fetch 'seen' from any of the mirrors, as it hopefully should always contain that topic from now on.

Thanks.
[References]
* https://lore.kernel.org/git/xmqqlfum7epn.fsf@gitster-ct.c.googlers.com/
Felipe Contreras· May 9, 2023, 01:38 UTC · re: Junio C Hamano · lore

Re: [PATCH 0/2] gitk: handle long command-lines

Junio C Hamano wrote:
> Philip Oakley <philipoakley@iee.email> writes:
> > On 27/03/2023 10:17, Johannes Schindelin wrote:
Show 5 quoted lines
> >> Paul, is there anything I can do to help you integrate this into `gitk`?
> >> Or is it time to pass over `gitk` maintenance to the Git project?
> >
> > I just tripped over this problem while trying to de-stack my Git backlog
> > https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/issues/4408 "sdk gitk interaction".
>  * The two patches that originate from GfW have been applied on top
>    of 465f0386 in the gitk history; the result of this is 7dd272ec
>    (gitk: escape file paths before piping to git log, 2023-01-24).
Why only those patches?

Does patches signed off by GfW developers carry a special status regardless of their content?

-- 
Felipe Contreras

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