Re: bug: transform a binary file into a symlink in one commit => invalid binary patch

[Michael J Gruber <git@drmicha.warpmail.net>]

Pixel venit, vidit, dixit 23.01.2009 13:25:
> hi, 
> 
> i hit a bug (git 1.6.1): when you transform a binary file into a
> symlink in one commit, the binary patch can't be used in "git apply".
> Is it a known issue?
> 
> 
> reproducer: 
> 
> ----------
> #!/bin/sh -e
> 
> # the bug: if you transform a binary file into a symlink in one commit, 
> # the binary patch can't be used in "git apply"
> #
> # nb: if you uncomment the "##" lines, the problem disappears
> # since the first patch will empty the binary file then the non-binary file
> # will be transformed into a symlink
> 
> rm -rf t t2
> mkdir t
> dd if=/dev/urandom of=t/a count=10
> cp -r t t2
> 
> cd t
> git init
> git add .
> git commit -m initial
> 
> ##echo -n > a
> ##git commit -a -m foo
> ln -sf zzz a
> git commit -a -m foo2
> git format-patch :/initial
> 
> cd ../t2
> git apply ../t/*.patch
> 
> cd ..
> rm -rf t t2
> ----------

You're not even initialising a repo in t2. I assume you want to "cp -a t
t2" after the "initial" commit, don't you? Doing that I get

error: binary patch to 'a' creates incorrect result (expecting
e132db255c0e0e3e9309c3c58a0a9c9eb97dd942, got
e69de29bb2d1d6434b8b29ae775ad8c2e48c5391)
error: a: patch does not apply
error: a: already exists in working directory

which is not that magnificient either. If that's the error you're after
your test script needs to be modified.

Michael