Re: [PATCH v2 00/14] Sparse-checkout: modify 'git add', 'git rm', and 'git add' behavior

On 10/18/2021 5:28 PM, Sean Christopherson wrote:

On Sun, Sep 12, 2021, Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget wrote:

quoted

This series is based on ds/mergies-with-sparse-index.

As requested, this series looks to update the behavior of git add, git rm,
and git mv when they attempt to modify paths outside of the sparse-checkout
cone. In particular, this care is expanded to not just cache entries with
the SKIP_WORKTREE bit, but also paths that do not match the sparse-checkout
definition.

I suspect something in this series broke 'git add' and friends with "odd" sparse
definitions (I haven't actually bisected).  git 2.33.0 rejects attempts to add
files with the below sparse-checkout and modified files.  There appears to be a
discrepancy in the query vs. checkout logic as the rejected files are checked out
in the working tree, e.g. git sees that the local file was deleted, yet will not
stage the deletion.

Are you using v2.33.0? This change is not in that version.

However, mt/add-rm-in-sparse-checkout [1] was introduced in v2.33.0 and
introduced these advice suggestions.

[1] https://github.com/git/git/compare/a5828ae6b52137b913b978e16cd2334482eb4c1f...d5f4b8260f623d6fdef36d5eaa8a0c2350390472

The series you are commenting on goes even farther in restricting adds to
be within the sparse-checkout definitions, even for unstaged files or files
that removed the skip-worktree bit due to a merge conflict. It also creates
an override '--sparse' option that allows you to ignore these protections.

There's also arguably a flaw in the "advise" trigger.  AFAICT, the help message
is displayed if and only if the entire path is excluded from the working tree.
In my perfect world, git would complain and advise if there are unstaged changes
for tracked files covered by the specified path.

quoted

Note, my sparse-checkout is very much the result of trial and error to get the

exact files I care about.  It's entirely possible I'm doing something weird, but
at the same time git itself is obviously confused.

Thanks!

$ cat .git/info/sparse-checkout
!arch/*
!tools/arch/*
!virt/kvm/arm/*
/*
arch/.gitignore
arch/Kconfig
arch/x86
tools/arch/x86
tools/include/uapi/linux/kvm.h
!Documentation
!drivers

Have you tried using 'arch/x86/' and 'tools/arch/x86/' to specify
that these are directories? Just a thought.

$ git read-tree -mu HEAD

$ rm arch/x86/kvm/x86.c

$ git commit -a

...

	deleted:    arch/x86/kvm/x86.c

This is certainly odd. Worth more investigation that I don't have
time for at this moment.

Thanks,
-Stolee