# Re: \[PATCH 6/5\] grep.c: mark eol/bol and derived as "const char \* const"

- From: Junio C Hamano \<hidden\>
- Date: 2021-09-22 19:02:56 
- List: git
- Page: https://ratatoskr.run/git/2021/09/7903315

```text
Jeff King [ref] writes:

> On Tue, Sep 21, 2021 at 02:45:16PM +0200, Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason wrote:
>
>> I think that generally git's codebase could use going beyond just
>> "const char *" when a "const char * const" would suffice, for some
>> reason we seem to mostly use it for the static usage variables.
>
> I didn't dig up the references in the list archive, but I feel like
> we've had this discussion long ago. One of the reasons not to do so is
> that it pollutes the function's interface with internal details. The
> caller does not care whether the function is going to modify the pointer
> itself, because it is passed by value. You could apply the same logic
> that we should be passing "const int", and so on.

Yes.  "This pointer is not modified" is a good thing to have inside
an implementation, but the callers should not have to care.

Thanks.
```