Re: [PATCH] Optimize common pattern of alloc_ref from string

[Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>]

Jeff King <peff@peff.net> writes:

> But really my main worry is that now we have _two_ functions which
> allocate refs, so if "struct ref" ever grows a new field that needs
> initializing, it has to go in two places (whereas if alloc_ref_from_str
> calls alloc_ref, it works automatically).

This is a very good point.  We really do not want a micro-optimization in
a way that hurts maintainability.

Krzysztof's patch has the new function with the duplicated allocation
implementation between the base allocator function and the existing
copy_ref() function which also has yet another duplicated allocation
implementation.  When somebody needs to modify one, it is likely to be
noticed that these three go hand-in-hand, hopefully ;-).

By the way, why isn't alloc_ref() doing xcalloc(), I have to wonder...