diff mbox series

[1/6] CodingGuidelines: describe "export VAR=VAL" rule

Message ID 20240406000902.3082301-2-gitster@pobox.com (mailing list archive)
State New
Headers show
Series local VAR="VAL" | expand

Commit Message

Junio C Hamano April 6, 2024, 12:08 a.m. UTC
https://lore.kernel.org/git/201307081121.22769.tboegi@web.de/
resulted in 9968ffff (test-lint: detect 'export FOO=bar',
2013-07-08) to add a rule to t/check-non-portable-shell.pl script to
reject

	export VAR=VAL

and suggest us to instead write it as "export VAR" followed by
"VAR=VAL".  This however was not spelled out in the CodingGuidelines
document.

We may want to re-evaluate the rule since it is from ages ago, but
for now, let's make the written rule and what the automation enforces
consistent.

Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
---
 Documentation/CodingGuidelines | 6 ++++++
 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+)

Comments

Eric Sunshine April 6, 2024, 5:11 a.m. UTC | #1
On Fri, Apr 5, 2024 at 8:09 PM Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> wrote:
> https://lore.kernel.org/git/201307081121.22769.tboegi@web.de/
> resulted in 9968ffff (test-lint: detect 'export FOO=bar',
> 2013-07-08) to add a rule to t/check-non-portable-shell.pl script to
> reject
>
>         export VAR=VAL
>
> and suggest us to instead write it as "export VAR" followed by
> "VAR=VAL".  This however was not spelled out in the CodingGuidelines
> document.

I suspect you meant:

   ... and suggest us to instead write it as "VAR=VAL" followed by
   "export VAR".

> We may want to re-evaluate the rule since it is from ages ago, but
> for now, let's make the written rule and what the automation enforces
> consistent.
>
> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
> ---
> diff --git a/Documentation/CodingGuidelines b/Documentation/CodingGuidelines
> @@ -188,6 +188,12 @@ For shell scripts specifically (not exhaustive):
>     hopefully nobody starts using "local" before they are reimplemented
>     in C ;-)
>
> + - Some versions of shell do not understand "export variable=value",
> +   so we write "export variable" and "variable=value" on separae

s/separae/separate/

Here too, it might be clearer to swap around the pieces:

    ... so we write "variable=value" and "export variable" on...

> +   lines.  Note that this was reported in 2013 and the situation might
> +   have changed since then.  We'd need to re-evaluate this rule,
> +   together with the rule in t/check-non-portable-shell.pl script.

The bit starting at "Note that..." seems more appropriate for the
commit message (which is already the case) or a To-Do list. People
reading this document are likely newcomers looking for concrete
instructions about how to code for this project, and this sort of
To-Do item isn't going to help them. (If anything, it might confuse
them into ignoring the advice to split `export foo=bar` into two
statements, which will result in reviewers asking them to reroll.)
Junio C Hamano April 6, 2024, 5:47 a.m. UTC | #2
Eric Sunshine <sunshine@sunshineco.com> writes:

>> +   lines.  Note that this was reported in 2013 and the situation might
>> +   have changed since then.  We'd need to re-evaluate this rule,
>> +   together with the rule in t/check-non-portable-shell.pl script.
>
> The bit starting at "Note that..." seems more appropriate for the
> commit message (which is already the case) or a To-Do list. People
> reading this document are likely newcomers looking for concrete
> instructions about how to code for this project,...

Very true.  I thought I'd move some to the log message, but it turns
out that enough is already described there.

Thanks.
Andreas Schwab April 6, 2024, 9:15 a.m. UTC | #3
On Apr 06 2024, Eric Sunshine wrote:

> On Fri, Apr 5, 2024 at 8:09 PM Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> wrote:
>> https://lore.kernel.org/git/201307081121.22769.tboegi@web.de/
>> resulted in 9968ffff (test-lint: detect 'export FOO=bar',
>> 2013-07-08) to add a rule to t/check-non-portable-shell.pl script to
>> reject
>>
>>         export VAR=VAL
>>
>> and suggest us to instead write it as "export VAR" followed by
>> "VAR=VAL".  This however was not spelled out in the CodingGuidelines
>> document.
>
> I suspect you meant:
>
>    ... and suggest us to instead write it as "VAR=VAL" followed by
>    "export VAR".

There is no difference between them.  The export command only marks the
variable for export, independent of the current or future value of the
variable.  The exported value is always the last assigned one.
Junio C Hamano April 6, 2024, 5:03 p.m. UTC | #4
Andreas Schwab <schwab@linux-m68k.org> writes:

>> I suspect you meant:
>>
>>    ... and suggest us to instead write it as "VAR=VAL" followed by
>>    "export VAR".
>
> There is no difference between them.  The export command only marks the
> variable for export, independent of the current or future value of the
> variable.  The exported value is always the last assigned one.

Correct.

But we are talking about working around sub-standard (read: buggy)
implementations and it is of dubious value to assume a compliant
implementation when devising a workaround.

It is easily imaginable that a sub-standard implementation uses a
symbol table with a single "is it exported?" bit in addition to
(name, value), without a way to say "this parameter is not set
(yet)" (IOW, never value==NULL), and such an implementation would
not be capable to have "this name is exported but nobody set the
value to it yet".  Using an assignment to make sure it is known
before setting the exported bit is safer to protect against such an
implementation.
Eric Sunshine April 6, 2024, 5:34 p.m. UTC | #5
On Sat, Apr 6, 2024 at 5:15 AM Andreas Schwab <schwab@linux-m68k.org> wrote:
> On Apr 06 2024, Eric Sunshine wrote:
> > On Fri, Apr 5, 2024 at 8:09 PM Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> wrote:
> >> https://lore.kernel.org/git/201307081121.22769.tboegi@web.de/
> >> resulted in 9968ffff (test-lint: detect 'export FOO=bar',
> >> 2013-07-08) to add a rule to t/check-non-portable-shell.pl script to
> >> reject
> >>
> >>         export VAR=VAL
> >>
> >> and suggest us to instead write it as "export VAR" followed by
> >> "VAR=VAL".  This however was not spelled out in the CodingGuidelines
> >> document.
> >
> > I suspect you meant:
> >
> >    ... and suggest us to instead write it as "VAR=VAL" followed by
> >    "export VAR".
>
> There is no difference between them.  The export command only marks the
> variable for export, independent of the current or future value of the
> variable.  The exported value is always the last assigned one.

Yes, I know, but it is customary in this code-base to write it as:

    VAR=VAL &&
    export VAR

not the other way around, so it makes sense for CodingGuidelines to
illustrate it in a fashion consistent with its use in the project.
diff mbox series

Patch

diff --git a/Documentation/CodingGuidelines b/Documentation/CodingGuidelines
index 9495df835d..0a39205c48 100644
--- a/Documentation/CodingGuidelines
+++ b/Documentation/CodingGuidelines
@@ -188,6 +188,12 @@  For shell scripts specifically (not exhaustive):
    hopefully nobody starts using "local" before they are reimplemented
    in C ;-)
 
+ - Some versions of shell do not understand "export variable=value",
+   so we write "export variable" and "variable=value" on separae
+   lines.  Note that this was reported in 2013 and the situation might
+   have changed since then.  We'd need to re-evaluate this rule,
+   together with the rule in t/check-non-portable-shell.pl script.
+
  - Use octal escape sequences (e.g. "\302\242"), not hexadecimal (e.g.
    "\xc2\xa2") in printf format strings, since hexadecimal escape
    sequences are not portable.