# [Outreachy] Guidance on a possible pathspec contribution

1 messages from 2026-11-02 to 2026-11-02. Participants: Srujith Poojary.
Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/66745

## Srujith Poojary, 2026-11-02 11:25

Subject: [Outreachy] Guidance on a possible pathspec contribution
Message-ID: <CABh_KWhJt0JiqhJYxnZmvHjkAs-gCyP8++DK+Pr+-So142YfvA@mail.gmail.com>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CABh_KWhJt0JiqhJYxnZmvHjkAs-gCyP8%2B%2BDK%2BPr%2B-So142YfvA%40mail.gmail.com

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Hello Git community,

I am currently working on my proposal for the December 2026 round of
Outreachy for the project "Reduce Git's global state to enable Git's
libification."

Whilst looking through pathspec.c, I noticed that
find_pathspecs_matching_skip_worktree() takes the index directly from
the global repository via the_repository->index.

This function finds pathspec matches for index entries that are either
marked as skip-worktree or are outside the sparse checkout.

Looking at matches_skip_worktree() (which calls this helper), I
noticed that although the results are calculated and cached, no index
is passed to the wrapper.

The existing find_pathspecs_matching_against_index() API already
accepts an explicit struct index_state *istate from its caller.
However, it also takes an enum ps_skip_worktree_action as an argument,
which currently has only two options. One option includes
skip-worktree and out-of-sparse-checkout entries in matching, while
the other ignores those entries. There is no option to match only
those special entries.

I am thinking of two potential solutions.

Option 1: Continue using the specialised helper function, but pass the
index_state explicitly. This would also require looking into passing
the index through matches_skip_worktree() and its callers.

Option 2: Look into adding another option to the existing
ps_skip_worktree_action enum and updating the matching logic. This
could allow us to match only skip-worktree or out-of-sparse-checkout
entries using the existing matching API.

Looking into where matches_skip_worktree() is used, I found calls in
pathspec.c, builtin/add.c and builtin/rm.c.

In builtin/rm.c, I also noticed several other uses of the_repository.
Similarly, pathspec.c has other uses of the_repository, including in
init_pathspec_item(). So I understand that changing this helper alone
would only address one specific dependency and would not make the
whole of pathspec.c or builtin/rm.c independent of global repository
state.

I have a few questions:

- Do you think this is a useful and focused contribution to help with
Git's libification?
- Does passing the index explicitly through the specialised helper and
wrapper make more sense, or should I look into modifying the existing
matching API?
- Is there any similar work already planned or being done?

I haven't implemented either of these approaches or tested them yet. I
wanted to get a good understanding of how the existing code works and
check whether this would be a suitable contribution before proceeding.

Thanks for your time.

Kind regards,
Srujith


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