On Tue, 30 Jan 2024 at 20:03, Junio C Hamano [off-list ref] wrote:

The beginning of the [System Info] section, which should match the
"git version --build-options" output, may not identify our version
as "git version 2.whatever".  When build in a repository cloned
without tags, for example, "git version unknown.g00000000" can be a
legit version string.

I've tried reproducing this along the lines of

  git clone --no-tags <url>
  cd git
  make
  (cd t && ./t0091-*)

but this works for me on current master, 2a540e432f ("The thirteenth
batch", 2024-02-02), which doesn't have this patch.

GIT-VERSION-GEN seems to be careful to only use tags on the wanted form.
My build generates a git version of "2.43.GIT", no "unknown..." stuff.

I don't doubt that you've hit this, I just wonder which piece of the
puzzle I'm missing.

-       # The beginning should match "git version --build-info" verbatim,
+       # The beginning should match "git version --build-options" verbatim,

Correct, my thinko-typo, thanks for correcting.

        # but rather than checking bit-for-bit equality, just test some basics.
-       grep "git version [0-9]." system &&
+       grep "git version " system &&

This matches the commit message, ok.

Martin