[PATCH] git-p4: do not pass '-r 0' to p4 commands

git-p4 crashes when used with a very old p4 client version
that does not support the '-r <number>' option in its commands.

Allow making git-p4 work with old p4 clients by setting git-p4.retries to 0.

Alternatively git-p4.retries could be made opt-in.
But since only very old, barely maintained p4 versions don't support
the '-r' option, the setting-retries-to-0 workaround would do.

The "-r retries" option is present in Perforce 2012.2 Command Reference,
but absent from Perforce 2012.1 Command Reference.

Signed-off-by: Igor Kushnir <redacted>
---
 Documentation/git-p4.txt | 1 +
 git-p4.py                | 4 +++-
 2 files changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/git-p4.txt b/Documentation/git-p4.txt
index bae862ddc..f4f1be5be 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-p4.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-p4.txt

@@ -479,6 +479,7 @@ git-p4.client::
 git-p4.retries::
 	Specifies the number of times to retry a p4 command (notably,
 	'p4 sync') if the network times out. The default value is 3.
+	'-r 0' is not passed to p4 commands if this option is set to 0.
 
 Clone and sync variables
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

diff --git a/git-p4.py b/git-p4.py
index 22e3f57e7..e5a9e1cce 100755
--- a/git-p4.py
+++ b/git-p4.py

@@ -83,7 +83,9 @@ def p4_build_cmd(cmd):
     if retries is None:
         # Perform 3 retries by default
         retries = 3
-    real_cmd += ["-r", str(retries)]
+    if retries != 0:
+        # Provide a way to not pass this option by setting git-p4.retries to 0
+        real_cmd += ["-r", str(retries)]
 
     if isinstance(cmd,basestring):
         real_cmd = ' '.join(real_cmd) + ' ' + cmd

-- 
2.11.0

On 29 December 2016 at 09:05, Igor Kushnir [off-list ref] wrote:

git-p4 crashes when used with a very old p4 client version
that does not support the '-r <number>' option in its commands.

Allow making git-p4 work with old p4 clients by setting git-p4.retries to 0.

Alternatively git-p4.retries could be made opt-in.
But since only very old, barely maintained p4 versions don't support
the '-r' option, the setting-retries-to-0 workaround would do.

The "-r retries" option is present in Perforce 2012.2 Command Reference,
but absent from Perforce 2012.1 Command Reference.

That looks like a good fix, thanks.

I feel sad for anyone still using 2012.1.

Luke

On 29 Dec 2016, at 10:05, Igor Kushnir [off-list ref] wrote:

git-p4 crashes when used with a very old p4 client version
that does not support the '-r <number>' option in its commands.

Allow making git-p4 work with old p4 clients by setting git-p4.retries to 0.

Alternatively git-p4.retries could be made opt-in.
But since only very old, barely maintained p4 versions don't support
the '-r' option, the setting-retries-to-0 workaround would do.

The "-r retries" option is present in Perforce 2012.2 Command Reference,
but absent from Perforce 2012.1 Command Reference.

Thanks for this workaround!

At this point in the docs we have never talked about the "-r" flag and I
would argue it is an "implementation detail". Therefore, I would prefer
something like: "Set the value to 0 if want to disable retries or if 
your p4 version does not support retries (pre 2012.2)."

How about "retries > 0"?

+        # Provide a way to not pass this option by setting git-p4.retries to 0
+        real_cmd += ["-r", str(retries)]

    if isinstance(cmd,basestring):
        real_cmd = ' '.join(real_cmd) + ' ' + cmd
-- 
2.11.0