Re: [PATCH 3/3] refspec: stop depending on `the_repository`

[Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>]

On Thu, Jul 16, 2026 at 01:59:59PM -0700, Junio C Hamano wrote:
> Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im> writes:
> 
> > The only remaining user of `the_hash_algo` in "refspec.c" is
> > `refspec_append()`, which needs to know the hash algorithm so that it
> > can parse the appended refspec item. In contrast to the functions
> > adapted in the preceding commit, this function always operates on a
> > `struct refspec`. As that structure is expected to only ever contain
> > refspecs that all use the same hash function it doesn't make sense
> > though to adapt each caller.
> >
> > Instead, adapt the structure itself so that it gets initialized with a
> > hash function and use that hash function to parse new refspec items.
> > Adapt callers accordingly.
> >
> > This removes the final dependency on the global repository variable in
> > "refspec.c", so we can drop `USE_THE_REPOSITORY_VARIABLE`.
> 
> While we lost some references to the_repository, we gained
> more references to the_hash_algo in exchange.  Because
> the_hash_algo is defined in terms of the_repository->hash_algo,
> it is only available when the_repository is still in use.
> So these changes do not really help callers, and only leave
> more for them to clean up later.
> 
> Which is probably fine.  We have to start somewhere, and
> refspec parsing is a fairly well-isolated corner of the
> universe that serves as a good starting point.

Yup, this patch series follows our typical approach of making one
subsystem `the_repository`-clean, but bumping that dependency up into
the next-higher level.

I've got a bunch of follow-up patch series that'll also convert some of
those higher-up dependencies. Most importantly, I'm converting all
subsystems that relate to the transport layer, as I'm on a very naive
quest to try and get git-clone(1) working without `the_repository`.
Let's see how far I get.

Patrick