Re: [PATCH v2 08/14] add: implement the --sparse option

On 9/15/2021 12:59 PM, Elijah Newren wrote:

On Sun, Sep 12, 2021 at 6:23 AM Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget

...

quoted

+--sparse::
+       Allow updating index entries outside of the sparse-checkout cone.
+       Normally, `git add` refuses to update index entries whose paths do
+       not fit within the sparse-checkout cone, since those files might
+       be removed from the working tree without warning. See
+       linkgit:git-sparse-checkout[1] for more.

for more ...?  details?  I find the last sentence incomplete.

I'll add "details"

Following that track for a moment and thinking out loud, I wonder if
we want more details somewhere in the sparse-checkout docs about this
issue and if so, if we should point to that specific part of that
page.  The 'reapply' section of the sparse-checkout page kind of
touches on the topic of the worktree not exactly matching sparsity
patterns (due to other commands), but focuses on unsparsifying files
due to conflicts and kind of ignores the re-sparsification that
happens in other commands after the working copy matches the index.
(Such a documentation improvement could come after your series, as I
said, I'm just thinking out loud.)

This is a good idea to include in a new "Troubleshooting" section.

quoted

-# NEEDSWORK: This test is documenting current behavior, but that
-# behavior can be confusing to users so there is desire to change it.
-# Right now, users might be using this flow to work through conflicts,
-# so any solution should present advice to users who try this sequence
-# of commands to follow whatever new method we create.
-test_expect_failure 'merge with conflict outside cone' '
+test_expect_success 'merge with conflict outside cone' '

Based on the comments on the next hunk, I also wonder if this hunk
doesn't belong in the previous commit...

You are absolutely right, I squashed the wrong commits. Thanks.

-Stolee