Re: [PATCH] wrapper: remove xunsetenv()

On Fri, Oct 29, 2021 at 2:43 PM [off-list ref] wrote:

On October 29, 2021 5:37 PM, Jeff King wrote:

quoted

On Fri, Oct 29, 2021 at 02:27:05PM -0700, Carlo Marcelo Arenas Belón wrote:

quoted

Remove the unused wrapper function.

I don't mind removing this if nobody is using it, but doesn't your first paragraph
argue that our definition of gitunsetenv() is just wrong?
I.e., it should return an int, even if it is always "0"?

I couldn't figure the intent Jason had when this code was added in
2006, but considering how Junio suggested using void for the wrapper,
my guess is that we really wanted to make sure nobody will consider
errors for that function as actionable.

quoted

Or is it a portability question? I.e., are there platforms where
unsetenv() also returns void, in which case we must make sure nobody ever
looks at its return value (and xunsetenv() is therefore a wrong direction)?

At least on NonStop x86, it is

       int unsetenv(const char *name);

I don't think there is any platform that had anything but int, and so
I agree with you that it would be much better if the compatibility
layer returns 0, but as you pointed out, this was the safest approach
considering we are 1 day after rc0 ;)

Carlo