git config error message

git config error message

[Angelo Borsotti]

Hello,

git config --get issues an error message when the specified value
contains a section that does not exist, but does not issue any message
when the value contains a key that does not exist while in both cases
returning a status 1. E.g.

$ git config --get xxx
error: key does not contain a section: xxx

$ git config --get xxx.yyy

Proposal: to issue an error message also when the key does not exist.

-Angelo Borsotti

Re: git config error message

[Andreas Schwab]

Angelo Borsotti <angelo.borsotti@gmail.com> writes:

> git config --get issues an error message when the specified value
> contains a section that does not exist, but does not issue any message
> when the value contains a key that does not exist while in both cases
> returning a status 1. E.g.
>
> $ git config --get xxx
> error: key does not contain a section: xxx
>
> $ git config --get xxx.yyy
>
> Proposal: to issue an error message also when the key does not exist.

The two cases are different: a key without a section is malformed,
whereas a nonexistent value is usually not an error (use the default
instead).

Andreas.

-- 
Andreas Schwab, schwab@linux-m68k.org
GPG Key fingerprint = 58CA 54C7 6D53 942B 1756  01D3 44D5 214B 8276 4ED5
"And now for something completely different."

Re: git config error message

[Angelo Borsotti]

Hi Andreas,

I wrote "value", but I meant "name". The first example I made contains
a name with a nonexistent section, the second a name with a
nonexistent key.

-Angelo

Re: git config error message

[Andreas Schwab]

Angelo Borsotti <angelo.borsotti@gmail.com> writes:

> I wrote "value", but I meant "name". The first example I made contains
> a name with a nonexistent section, the second a name with a
> nonexistent key.

And a nonexistent key is a valid key, so not an error.

Andreas.

-- 
Andreas Schwab, schwab@linux-m68k.org
GPG Key fingerprint = 58CA 54C7 6D53 942B 1756  01D3 44D5 214B 8276 4ED5
"And now for something completely different."

Re: git config error message

[Ben Walton]

On Sat, Oct 27, 2012 at 9:32 AM, Angelo Borsotti
<angelo.borsotti@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Angelo,

> I wrote "value", but I meant "name". The first example I made contains
> a name with a nonexistent section, the second a name with a
> nonexistent key.

This still wouldn't be an error condition though, especially in terms
of how "git config" should treat it.  It should be up to the consumer
of the information to display, or not, any error or diagnostics that
don't result from either a bad request (your first case) or a
malformed configuration file.  This fits with the callback nature of
how the config file is parsed by builtin tools.  The exit code from
"git config" with a missing key is enough for the consumer to make
this decision.

This is just my take on it, but I think the current approach makes sense.

Thanks
-Ben
-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Take the risk of thinking for yourself.  Much more happiness,
truth, beauty and wisdom will come to you that way.

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---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Re: git config error message

[Angelo Borsotti]

Hi Ben

> This still wouldn't be an error condition though, especially in terms
> of how "git config" should treat it.

The man page says:

   "This command will fail with non-zero status upon error."

Of course, one might claim that this does not mean the truth of the
reverse condition, i.e. that when the command returns 1 that is
necessarily an error, but I would leave that avenue of thinking to
philosophers. Besides that, it is common practice in *nix OSs to
consider a return != 0 as an error.

> It should be up to the consumer
> of the information to display, or not, any error or diagnostics that
> don't result from either a bad request (your first case) or a
> malformed configuration file.  This fits with the callback nature of
> how the config file is parsed by builtin tools.  The exit code from
> "git config" with a missing key is enough for the consumer to make
> this decision.
>

A well-behaved, user-friendly program, when detects an error tells the
user what went wrong.
How can otherwise the user tell a corrupted configuration file from a
missing key?

Of course, is is possible to provide a git-config that simply returns
0 when it has got the key and 1 when it does not, without issuing any
error message, but the current one is not like that, it is a middle
way solution.

-Angelo

Re: git config error message

[Andreas Schwab]

Angelo Borsotti <angelo.borsotti@gmail.com> writes:

> Besides that, it is common practice in *nix OSs to
> consider a return != 0 as an error.

Is grep not finding a match an error?  Is cmp finding a difference an
error?  It all depends on the context.

> How can otherwise the user tell a corrupted configuration file from a
> missing key?

You cannot, as long as your configuration file is well-formed, because a
missing key is an expected condition in many cases.

Andreas.

-- 
Andreas Schwab, schwab@linux-m68k.org
GPG Key fingerprint = 58CA 54C7 6D53 942B 1756  01D3 44D5 214B 8276 4ED5
"And now for something completely different."

Re: git config error message

[Angelo Borsotti]

Hi Andreas,

>
> Is grep not finding a match an error?  Is cmp finding a difference an
> error?  It all depends on the context.
>

Manpage of grep, exit staus:

   "Normally, the exit status is 0 if selected lines are found and 1
otherwise. But the exit status is 2 if an error occurred, ..."

cmp uses the same convention (albeit not reported in its manpage).

I am not stating that all linux commands and utilities follow exactly
the same convention, but these
two are at least consistent with themselves always returning an exit
status that has a well defined meaning. git-config returns
consistently the exit status, it only issues in certain cases messages
and in others not. A consistent solution could be for it to return 0
upon success, 1 when the section or key is absent, and 2 when the
config file does not exist or is corrupt issuing also an error
message.

-Angelo

>> How can otherwise the user tell a corrupted configuration file from a
>> missing key?
>
> You cannot, as long as your configuration file is well-formed, because a
> missing key is an expected condition in many cases.
>
> Andreas.
>
> --
> Andreas Schwab, schwab@linux-m68k.org
> GPG Key fingerprint = 58CA 54C7 6D53 942B 1756  01D3 44D5 214B 8276 4ED5
> "And now for something completely different."

Re: git config error message

[Andreas Schwab]

Angelo Borsotti <angelo.borsotti@gmail.com> writes:

> when the section or key is absent

When the key is malformed you get an error, otherwise not.

Andreas.

-- 
Andreas Schwab, schwab@linux-m68k.org
GPG Key fingerprint = 58CA 54C7 6D53 942B 1756  01D3 44D5 214B 8276 4ED5
"And now for something completely different."

git config error message

[Jon Smirl]

I'm not in a git repo, this error message is misleading.

jonsmirl@terra:~/foo$ git config remote.origin.url
http://git.digispeaker.com/projects/digispeaker-kernel.git
could not lock config file


-- 
Jon Smirl
jonsmirl@gmail.com

Re: git config error message

[Alex Riesen]

Jon Smirl, Mon, Nov 12, 2007 16:35:07 +0100:
> I'm not in a git repo, this error message is misleading.
> 
> jonsmirl@terra:~/foo$ git config remote.origin.url
> http://git.digispeaker.com/projects/digispeaker-kernel.git
> could not lock config file
> 

Cygwin or any crashes in this repo lately?
If cygwin, than we probably have a file handle leak in config code.

Re: git config error message

[Johannes Schindelin]

Hi,

On Mon, 12 Nov 2007, Alex Riesen wrote:

> Jon Smirl, Mon, Nov 12, 2007 16:35:07 +0100:
> > I'm not in a git repo, this error message is misleading.
> > 
> > jonsmirl@terra:~/foo$ git config remote.origin.url
> > http://git.digispeaker.com/projects/digispeaker-kernel.git
> > could not lock config file
> > 
> 
> Cygwin or any crashes in this repo lately?
> If cygwin, than we probably have a file handle leak in config code.

He said that he's not in a git repo.  Thus, .git/config does not exist, 
and is not lockable, since not even .git/ exists.

Ciao,
Dscho

Re: git config error message

[Alex Riesen]

Johannes Schindelin, Mon, Nov 12, 2007 23:24:54 +0100:
> Hi,
> 
> On Mon, 12 Nov 2007, Alex Riesen wrote:
> 
> > Jon Smirl, Mon, Nov 12, 2007 16:35:07 +0100:
> > > I'm not in a git repo, this error message is misleading.
> > > 
> > > jonsmirl@terra:~/foo$ git config remote.origin.url
> > > http://git.digispeaker.com/projects/digispeaker-kernel.git
> > > could not lock config file
> > > 
> > 
> > Cygwin or any crashes in this repo lately?
> > If cygwin, than we probably have a file handle leak in config code.
> 
> He said that he's not in a git repo.  Thus, .git/config does not exist, 
> and is not lockable, since not even .git/ exists.
> 

Oh.

Re: git config error message

[Jakub Narebski]

Alex Riesen wrote:

> Johannes Schindelin, Mon, Nov 12, 2007 23:24:54 +0100:
>> Hi,
>> On Mon, 12 Nov 2007, Alex Riesen wrote:
>>> Jon Smirl, Mon, Nov 12, 2007 16:35:07 +0100:
>>>
>>>> I'm not in a git repo, this error message is misleading.
>>>> 
>>>> jonsmirl@terra:~/foo$ git config remote.origin.url
>>>> http://git.digispeaker.com/projects/digispeaker-kernel.git
>>>> could not lock config file
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> Cygwin or any crashes in this repo lately?
>>> If cygwin, than we probably have a file handle leak in config code.
>> 
>> He said that he's not in a git repo.  Thus, .git/config does not exist, 
>> and is not lockable, since not even .git/ exists.
>> 
> 
> Oh.

And neither does per-user config file (I triet to reproduce this error, and
forgot about ~/.gitconfig file).

-- 
Jakub Narebski
Warsaw, Poland
ShadeHawk on #git