Re: Bug? "git branch" failing to list all branches

Simo Melenius wrote:

My change doesn't change the current behaviour. At least git 1.7.0.4
didn't give a nonzero exit status either. It would be good if it did.

I could add that to my patch. I'm, however, unsure of what's the best
way to communicate the error from append_ref() to cmd_branch(). A
static variable in branch.c would of course do.

I see.  You can use the cb_data argument to pass a result back:

 struct append_ref_cb {
 	struct ref_list *ref_list;
 	int err;
 };

A static variable might be simpler.

But that is a separate topic (for a separate patch).  I can pick it up
if you don’t.

quoted

If I have 37 branches and an error is encountered looking up one of
them, with this patch the error message will scroll off the screen.
Is this worth worrying about?  It depends on what the usual causes for
broken branch refs are and whether they require attention or can be
safely ignored.

Since this only concerns the printing of branches, often for
interactive viewing or bash completion, and does not affect any of the
operations that modify the repository, I think it's sufficient that
the error message is still readable from stderr for those who are
interested.

Sorry, I must have been unclear.  Let me illustrate with an example:

 $ git branch
 * (no branch)
   cc/sequencer-rebase-i
   db/svn-fe
 error: branch 'dk/hash' does not point at a commit.
   gp/debian-pu
   gp/sid-patches
   jl/gitk-submodule
   jk/pull-rebase-message
   jn/debian-build-depends
   js/grep-open
   ks/gitk-notes
   nd/gitbox
   nd/setup
   rr/svn-remote
   sb/sequencer-dev
   sb/sequencer-rfc
 ...

If this scrolls on for too long, I will not see the message.  Now if
the error is due to some kind of corruption or a broken script, I
would want to know about it right away, even if I can carry on with
my work without.  So in that case, it would make sense to add at the
end:

 fatal: some refs could not be read.

On the other hand, maybe there is some harmless process that often
creates these broken refs and such a message would be a nuisance.

Hoping that is clearer,
Jonathan