Re: [PATCH v10 00/15] Upstreaming the Scalar command

On Wed, Dec 08 2021, Johannes Schindelin wrote:

Hi Junio,

On Sun, 5 Dec 2021, Junio C Hamano wrote:

quoted

Elijah Newren [off-list ref] writes:

quoted

From your wording it sounds like the plan might not include moving
these tests over.  Perhaps it doesn't make sense to move them all
over, but since they've caught problems in both Scalar and core Git,
it would be nice to see many of those tests come to Git as well as
part of a future follow on series.

Yeah, we may be initially queuing this without tests for expediency,
but a production code cannot go forever without CI tests to ensure
continued code health.  People make changes in other parts of the
system Scalar may depend on and unknowingly break some assumption
Scalar makes on it.

The Scalar Functional Tests were designed with Azure Repos in mind, i.e.
they specifically verify that the `gvfs-helper` (emulating Partial Clone
using the predecessor of Partial Clone, the GVFS protocol) manages to
access the repositories in the intended way.

I do not know off-hand how entangled the GVFS part is in the test suite,
but from what I recall, every single test starts with cloning a test
repository. From Azure Repos. Using the `gvfs-helper`.

Which means that the `gvfs-helper` would need to be upstreamed and be
maintained in the git.git repository proper.

Previously I was under the impression that that might be met with grumpy
rejection.

I do realize, though, that clarity of intention has been missing from this
mail thread all around, so let me ask point blank: Junio, do you want me
to include upstreaming `gvfs-helper` in the overall Scalar plan?

An alternate way would be be to have our own tests build git, and then
clone and build those third party repos and test them.

I had a patch to do that for git-annex. I think it would be a good idea
to pursue it in general for prominent downstream projects as part of
some extended integration testing:
https://lore.kernel.org/git/20170516203712.15921-1-avarab@gmail.com/ (local)