Re: [PATCH 4/4] submodule--helper: use relative path if possible

Stefan Beller [off-list ref] writes:

The "path" is assumed to be _always_ relative to work tree?

I am wondering if it would be prudent to have an assert for that
before doing this, just like I suggested assert(path) for [2/4]
earlier [*1*].

On the other hand, if we allow path to be absolute, this would need
to become something like:

	if (is_absolute_path(path))
        	strbuf_addstr(&abs_path, path);
	else
        	strbuf_addf(&abs_path, "%s/%s", get_git_work_tree(), path);

 	fprintf(submodule_dot_git, "gitdir: %s\n",
+		is_absolute_path(sm_gitdir) ?
+		relative_path(sm_gitdir, abs_path.buf, &rel_path) :
 		relative_path(sm_gitdir, path, &rel_path));

It seems that the abs_path computation is not needed at all if
sm_gitdir is relative to begin with.  I wonder if the code gets
easier to read and can avoid unnecessary strbuf manipulation
if this entire hunk is structured more like so:

	if (is_absolute_path(sm_gitdir)) {
		...
	} else {
        	...
	}
	fprintf(submodule_dot_git, "gitdir: %s\n",
        	relative_path(sm_gitdir, base_path, &rel_path));

 	if (fclose(submodule_dot_git))
 		die(_("could not close file %s"), sb.buf);

[Footnote]

*1* BTW, I tightened the assert for 2/4 to "assert(path && *path)"
to match the assumption in its log message, i.e. "The calling shell
code makes sure that path is non-NULL and non empty".

On Thu, Mar 31, 2016 at 9:59 AM, Junio C Hamano [off-list ref] wrote:

Stefan Beller [off-list ref] writes:

quoted

As submodules have working directory and their git directory far apart
relative_path(gitdir, work_dir) will not produce a relative path when
git_dir is absolute. When the gitdir is absolute, we need to convert
the workdir to an absolute path as well to compute the relative path.

(e.g. gitdir=/home/user/project/.git/modules/submodule,
workdir=submodule/, relative_dir doesn't take the current working directory
into account, so there is no way for it to know that the correct answer
is indeed "../.git/modules/submodule", if the workdir was given as
/home/user/project/submodule, the answer is obvious.)

Signed-off-by: Stefan Beller <redacted>
---
 builtin/submodule--helper.c | 7 +++++++
 t/t7400-submodule-basic.sh  | 2 +-
 2 files changed, 8 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/builtin/submodule--helper.c b/builtin/submodule--helper.c
index 914e561..0b0fad3 100644
--- a/builtin/submodule--helper.c
+++ b/builtin/submodule--helper.c

@@ -159,6 +159,7 @@ static int module_clone(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
      FILE *submodule_dot_git;
      char *sm_gitdir, *cwd, *p;
      struct strbuf rel_path = STRBUF_INIT;
+     struct strbuf abs_path = STRBUF_INIT;
      struct strbuf sb = STRBUF_INIT;

      struct option module_clone_options[] = {

@@ -219,7 +220,12 @@ static int module_clone(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
      if (!submodule_dot_git)
              die_errno(_("cannot open file '%s'"), sb.buf);

+     strbuf_addf(&abs_path, "%s/%s",
+                 get_git_work_tree(),
+                 path);

The "path" is assumed to be _always_ relative to work tree?

In the code prior to this patch, that was assumed, yes.
(e.g. later in the code:

    /* Redirect the worktree of the submodule in the superproject's config */
    cwd = xgetcwd();
    strbuf_addf(&sb, "%s/%s", cwd, path);
    ....
    relative_path(sb.buf, ...
)

I am wondering if it would be prudent to have an assert for that
before doing this, just like I suggested assert(path) for [2/4]
earlier [*1*].

On the other hand, if we allow path to be absolute, this would need
to become something like:

        if (is_absolute_path(path))
                strbuf_addstr(&abs_path, path);
        else
                strbuf_addf(&abs_path, "%s/%s", get_git_work_tree(), path);

quoted

      fprintf(submodule_dot_git, "gitdir: %s\n",
+             is_absolute_path(sm_gitdir) ?
+             relative_path(sm_gitdir, abs_path.buf, &rel_path) :
              relative_path(sm_gitdir, path, &rel_path));

It seems that the abs_path computation is not needed at all if
sm_gitdir is relative to begin with.  I wonder if the code gets
easier to read and can avoid unnecessary strbuf manipulation
if this entire hunk is structured more like so:

        if (is_absolute_path(sm_gitdir)) {
                ...
        } else {
                ...
        }
        fprintf(submodule_dot_git, "gitdir: %s\n",
                relative_path(sm_gitdir, base_path, &rel_path));

quoted

      if (fclose(submodule_dot_git))
              die(_("could not close file %s"), sb.buf);

[Footnote]

I just simplified the code to be

  if (!is_absolute(path))
    path=make_absolute(...);
  if (!is_absolute(sm_gitdir))
    sm_gitdir=make_absolute(...);
  ...
 /* rest operates under absolute path only, no
   conditions any more! */


And I'd think that is cleanest to read and understand.

Having absolute path for both path and gitdir all the time
leaves no exceptions for relative_path to spew errors because
one of both is relative and not connected to the other absolute.

*1* BTW, I tightened the assert for 2/4 to "assert(path && *path)"
to match the assumption in its log message, i.e. "The calling shell
code makes sure that path is non-NULL and non empty".