use core.fsmonitor instead

use core.fsmonitor instead

[David Calkins]

I installed Git v2.36.0 for Windows (64-bit) and when running commands
I get the following output.

hint: core.useBuiltinFSMonitor will be deprecated soon; use
core.fsmonitor instead
hint: Disable this message with "git config advice.useCoreFSMonitorConfig false"

I opened the system Git config file and updated it to have the below.

 useBuiltinFSMonitor = false

After this change I no longer get that output.  However, the hint
indicated that I should "use core.fsmonitor instead".  Is there
something else I should be doing besides just telling it not to
useBuildtinFSMonitor?  How do I tell it to "use core.fsmonitor
instead"?

Re: use core.fsmonitor instead

[Junio C Hamano]

David Calkins <david.s.calkins@gmail.com> writes:

> I installed Git v2.36.0 for Windows (64-bit) and when running commands
> I get the following output.
>
> hint: core.useBuiltinFSMonitor will be deprecated soon; use
> core.fsmonitor instead
> hint: Disable this message with "git config advice.useCoreFSMonitorConfig false"
>
> I opened the system Git config file and updated it to have the below.
>
>  useBuiltinFSMonitor = false
>
> After this change I no longer get that output.  However, the hint
> indicated that I should "use core.fsmonitor instead".  Is there
> something else I should be doing besides just telling it not to
> useBuildtinFSMonitor?  How do I tell it to "use core.fsmonitor
> instead"?

I do not do Windows, and I believe this is one area their codebase
deviates from what I have in my tree (read: Git for Windows is a bit
ahead of the real Git), so I have to speak with some speculation,
but the above does look a poor end-user experience.  If the code
detected core.useBuildtinFSMonitor is set to true, it should have
suggested to set core.fsmonitor to true instead, not just leaving at
"use X instead" without telling how to use X.

I am speculating that the old way (on Windows) to use the built-in
fsmonitor code was

    git config core.useBuiltinFSMonitor true

(this is something existed only in Git for Windows).  But the latest
incantation to ask for the built-in fsmonitor is to say

    git config core.fsmonitor true

on platforms that support builtin fsmonitor.  I think that is what
the message is trying to tell you.

It looks also like a very poor design to give hint tied to an advice
variable in this case.  They used to use core.usebuiltinfsmonitor
and they are trying to migrate their users away to use
core.fsmonitor variable instead, so they could just have tied the
advice messages to core.fsmonitor variable.  If they see that
core.usebuiltinfsmonitor is still used, and if they see
core.fsmonitor also is set (even to 'false'), then they know the
user has migrated, so they can stay quiet without forcing the user
to set advice.* configuration variable.  If they do not see
core.fsmonitor set to anything but core.usebuiltinfsmonitor used,
then they can complain.  There shouldn't be a need to use the
advice.usecorefsmonitorconfig variable at all, as far as I see, and
that makes this end-user experience doubly bad.

Re: use core.fsmonitor instead

[Jeff Hostetler]

On 4/26/22 6:43 PM, David Calkins wrote:
> I installed Git v2.36.0 for Windows (64-bit) and when running commands
> I get the following output.
> 
> hint: core.useBuiltinFSMonitor will be deprecated soon; use
> core.fsmonitor instead
> hint: Disable this message with "git config advice.useCoreFSMonitorConfig false"
> 
> I opened the system Git config file and updated it to have the below.
> 
>   useBuiltinFSMonitor = false
> 
> After this change I no longer get that output.  However, the hint
> indicated that I should "use core.fsmonitor instead".  Is there
> something else I should be doing besides just telling it not to
> useBuildtinFSMonitor?  How do I tell it to "use core.fsmonitor
> instead"?
> 

Yes, the wording of that message could use some work.

Git for Windows 2.34 and 2.35 included an experimental version
of the builtin FSMonitor feature that was centered around
`core.useBuiltinFSMonitor`.  We are in the process of upstreaming
the FSMonitor feature into core Git.  The first half of it is
included in core Git 2.36 and centered around the `core.fsmonitor`
config variable instead of the former config variable.  Git for Windows
2.36 recognizes both config variables, but warns that the former
is deprecated.

Setting
	git config core.fsmonitor true

will quiet the warning.

We are phasing out the old config variable as soon as we can retire
the "experimental" label from the feature in GFW, but felt that we
could not just delete it and switch because Windows users sometimes
have more than one version of Git installed.  For example, VS
ships with a hidden version that may be ahead or behind the version
you have installed explicitly in Program Files.

If you know that you only have one version of Git installed, you
can unset the old config value.  But if you have more than one,
leave both set to true.

Sorry for the confusion.
Jeff