Re: [PATCH] copy: drop dependency on `the_repository`

[Phillip Wood <phillip.wood123@gmail.com>]

Hi Patrick

On 16/07/2026 10:56, Patrick Steinhardt wrote:
> When copying a file we need to potentially adapt permissions of the new
> file based on whether or not "core.shared" is enabled. Parsing this
> configuration makes us implicitly depend on `the_repository`.
> 
> Refactor the code to instead require the caller to pass in a repository
> so that we can remove `USE_THE_REPOSITORY_VARIABLE`.

Sounds sensible
> diff --git a/sequencer.c b/sequencer.c
> index 1355a99a09..c9ede9c02d 100644
> --- a/sequencer.c
> +++ b/sequencer.c
> @@ -2419,7 +2419,7 @@ static int do_pick_commit(struct repository *r,
>   		} else {
>   			const char *dest = git_path_squash_msg(r);
>   			unlink(dest);
> -			if (copy_file(dest, rebase_path_squash_msg(), 0666)) {
> +			if (copy_file(the_repository, dest, rebase_path_squash_msg(), 0666)) {

The path for "dest" is obtained using a local repository instance "r", 
but we're using "the_repository" to set the permissions on that path. 
While that matches the current behavior it is clearly better to use the 
same repository instance to obtain both the path and and permissions for 
that path. In the hunk below we even have "the_repository" and "r" on 
the same line which seems confusing. This patch uses a local repository 
instance in refs/files-backend.c and setup.c, lets do the same here.

Thanks

Phillip

>   				res = error(_("could not copy '%s' to '%s'"),
>   					    rebase_path_squash_msg(), dest);
>   				goto leave;
> @@ -3864,11 +3864,11 @@ static int error_failed_squash(struct repository *r,
>   			       int subject_len,
>   			       const char *subject)
>   {
> -	if (copy_file(rebase_path_message(), rebase_path_squash_msg(), 0666))
> +	if (copy_file(the_repository, rebase_path_message(), rebase_path_squash_msg(), 0666))
>   		return error(_("could not copy '%s' to '%s'"),
>   			rebase_path_squash_msg(), rebase_path_message());
>   	unlink(git_path_merge_msg(r));
> -	if (copy_file(git_path_merge_msg(r), rebase_path_message(), 0666))
> +	if (copy_file(the_repository, git_path_merge_msg(r), rebase_path_message(), 0666))
>   		return error(_("could not copy '%s' to '%s'"),
>   			     rebase_path_message(),
>   			     git_path_merge_msg(r));
> diff --git a/setup.c b/setup.c
> index 0de56a074f..91d61a5939 100644
> --- a/setup.c
> +++ b/setup.c
> @@ -2331,7 +2331,7 @@ static void copy_templates_1(struct repository *repo,
>   			strbuf_release(&lnk);
>   		}
>   		else if (S_ISREG(st_template.st_mode)) {
> -			if (copy_file(path->buf, template_path->buf, st_template.st_mode))
> +			if (copy_file(repo, path->buf, template_path->buf, st_template.st_mode))
>   				die_errno(_("cannot copy '%s' to '%s'"),
>   					  template_path->buf, path->buf);
>   		}
> 
> ---
> base-commit: d35c5399e3e54ac277bb391fc2f6be3e816d312b
> change-id: 20260716-pks-copy-wo-the-repository-aa01ccdbed76
> 
>