diff mbox series

[v2,4/4] diff --no-index: support reading from named pipes

Message ID 4e05a0be54f66f2b394642762832e426a545426c.1688586536.git.phillip.wood@dunelm.org.uk (mailing list archive)
State New, archived
Headers show
Series diff --no-index: support reading from named pipes | expand

Commit Message

Phillip Wood July 5, 2023, 7:49 p.m. UTC
From: Phillip Wood <phillip.wood@dunelm.org.uk>

In some shells, such as bash and zsh, it's possible to use a command
substitution to provide the output of a command as a file argument to
another process, like so:

  diff -u <(printf "a\nb\n") <(printf "a\nc\n")

However, this syntax does not produce useful results with "git diff
--no-index". On macOS, the arguments to the command are named pipes
under /dev/fd, and git diff doesn't know how to handle a named pipe. On
Linux, the arguments are symlinks to pipes, so git diff "helpfully"
diffs these symlinks, comparing their targets like "pipe:[1234]" and
"pipe:[5678]".

To address this "diff --no-index" is changed so that if a path given on
the commandline is a named pipe or a symbolic link that resolves to a
named pipe then we read the data to diff from that pipe. This is
implemented by generalizing the code that already exists to handle
reading from stdin when the user passes the path "-".

If the user tries to compare a named pipe to a directory then we die as
we do when trying to compare stdin to a directory.

As process substitution is not support by POSIX this change is tested by
using a pipe and a symbolic link to a pipe.

Helped-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Signed-off-by: Phillip Wood <phillip.wood@dunelm.org.uk>
---
 diff-no-index.c          | 113 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----------
 t/t4053-diff-no-index.sh |  40 ++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 125 insertions(+), 28 deletions(-)

Comments

Junio C Hamano July 5, 2023, 10:19 p.m. UTC | #1
Phillip Wood <phillip.wood123@gmail.com> writes:

> From: Phillip Wood <phillip.wood@dunelm.org.uk>
>
> In some shells, such as bash and zsh, it's possible to use a command
> substitution to provide the output of a command as a file argument to
> another process, like so:
>
>   diff -u <(printf "a\nb\n") <(printf "a\nc\n")

"command substitution" -> "process substitution", I think, are the
words found in the manual pages of both shells cited as examples.

> However, this syntax does not produce useful results with "git diff
> --no-index". On macOS, the arguments to the command are named pipes
> under /dev/fd, and git diff doesn't know how to handle a named pipe. On
> Linux, the arguments are symlinks to pipes, so git diff "helpfully"
> diffs these symlinks, comparing their targets like "pipe:[1234]" and
> "pipe:[5678]".

Concisely and clearly described.  Very nice.

> To address this "diff --no-index" is changed so that if a path given on

"this" -> "this,", probably.

> the commandline is a named pipe or a symbolic link that resolves to a
> named pipe then we read the data to diff from that pipe. This is
> implemented by generalizing the code that already exists to handle
> reading from stdin when the user passes the path "-".

Great.

> If the user tries to compare a named pipe to a directory then we die as
> we do when trying to compare stdin to a directory.
>
> As process substitution is not support by POSIX this change is tested by
> using a pipe and a symbolic link to a pipe.

People who are interested to more directly test the intended use
case can add a test "diff --no-index <(one) <(two)" under some
prerequisite (like BASH).  The test on the underlying mechansim like
this patch does is just fine in the meantime.

> diff --git a/diff-no-index.c b/diff-no-index.c
> index 4470e0271d..4771cf02aa 100644
> --- a/diff-no-index.c
> +++ b/diff-no-index.c
> @@ -41,74 +41,119 @@ static int read_directory_contents(const char *path, struct string_list *list)
>   */
>  static const char file_from_standard_input[] = "-";
>  
> -static int get_mode(const char *path, int *mode)
> +/*
> + * For paths given on the command-line we treat "-" as stdin and named
> + * pipes and symbolic links to named pipes specially.
> + */
> +enum special {
> +	SPECIAL_NONE,
> +	SPECIAL_STDIN,
> +	SPECIAL_PIPE,
> +};
> +
> +static int get_mode(const char *path, int *mode, enum special *special)
>  {
>  	struct stat st;
>  
> -	if (!path || !strcmp(path, "/dev/null"))
> +	if (!path || !strcmp(path, "/dev/null")) {
>  		*mode = 0;
>  #ifdef GIT_WINDOWS_NATIVE
> -	else if (!strcasecmp(path, "nul"))
> +	} else if (!strcasecmp(path, "nul")) {
>  		*mode = 0;
>  #endif
> -	else if (path == file_from_standard_input)
> +	} else if (path == file_from_standard_input) {
>  		*mode = create_ce_mode(0666);
> -	else if (lstat(path, &st))
> +		*special = SPECIAL_STDIN;
> +	} else if (lstat(path, &st)) {
>  		return error("Could not access '%s'", path);
> -	else
> +	} else {
>  		*mode = st.st_mode;
> +	}
> +	/*
> +	 * For paths on the command-line treat named pipes and symbolic
> +	 * links that resolve to a named pipe specially.
> +	 */

Excellent.  The code structure is very clear.  We do what we have
already done, and in addition, treat pipes and symlinks to pipes
specially.

> +	if (special &&
> +	    (S_ISFIFO(*mode) ||
> +	     (S_ISLNK(*mode) && !stat(path, &st) && S_ISFIFO(st.st_mode)))) {
> +		*mode = create_ce_mode(0666);
> +		*special = SPECIAL_PIPE;
> +	}

What should we do when !stat(path, &st) fails here?  It may be a
dangling symbolic link, causes stat() to fail and we want to be
silent about it without changing *mode.  And that is exactly what
the code does.  Great.

Under what circumstances does a caller pass NULL to the special?  If
we were given a fifo and the caller passes NULL to the special,
*mode at this point would be S_ISFIFO() and not 0666.  It may be
what we want, but I do not immediately see why (I'll realize why
while reading the "recursing?" bit below).

> -static void populate_from_stdin(struct diff_filespec *s)
> +static void populate_common(struct diff_filespec *s, struct strbuf *buf)
>  {
> -	struct strbuf buf = STRBUF_INIT;
>  	size_t size = 0;

Not a new issue, but this initialization assignment is useless as
strbuf_detach() would always overwrite it (or die and would not come
back to us).

> -	if (strbuf_read(&buf, 0, 0) < 0)
> -		die_errno("error while reading from stdin");
> -
>  	s->should_munmap = 0;
> -	s->data = strbuf_detach(&buf, &size);
> +	s->data = strbuf_detach(buf, &size);
>  	s->size = size;

Again not a new issue, but it is unfortunate that s->size is not
size_t but ulong, which requires us to use a temporary variable of
the correct type, only to assign to it.

>  	s->should_free = 1;
>  	s->is_stdin = 1;
>  }
>  
> -static struct diff_filespec *noindex_filespec(const char *name, int mode)
> +static void populate_from_pipe(struct diff_filespec *s)
> +{
> +	struct strbuf buf = STRBUF_INIT;
> +	int fd = xopen(s->path, O_RDONLY);
> +
> +	if (strbuf_read(&buf, fd, 0) < 0)
> +		die_errno("error while reading from '%s'", s->path);
> +	close(fd);
> +	populate_common(s, &buf);
> +}
> +
> +static void populate_from_stdin(struct diff_filespec *s)
> +{
> +	struct strbuf buf = STRBUF_INIT;
> +
> +	if (strbuf_read(&buf, 0, 0) < 0)
> +		die_errno("error while reading from stdin");
> +	populate_common(s, &buf);
> +}

Both look OK.  I would have named "_common" -> "_finalize" or
something to signal that this is the shared "tail" part of the two
callers, but it is minor.

> +static struct diff_filespec *noindex_filespec(const char *name, int mode,
> +					      enum special special)
>  {
>  	struct diff_filespec *s;
>  
>  	if (!name)
>  		name = "/dev/null";
>  	s = alloc_filespec(name);
>  	fill_filespec(s, null_oid(), 0, mode);
> -	if (name == file_from_standard_input)
> +	if (special == SPECIAL_STDIN)
>  		populate_from_stdin(s);
> +	else if (special == SPECIAL_PIPE)
> +		populate_from_pipe(s);
>  	return s;
>  }

Great.

>  static int queue_diff(struct diff_options *o,
> -		      const char *name1, const char *name2)
> +		      const char *name1, const char *name2, int recursing)
>  {
>  	int mode1 = 0, mode2 = 0;
> +	enum special special1 = SPECIAL_NONE, special2 = SPECIAL_NONE;
>  
> -	if (get_mode(name1, &mode1) || get_mode(name2, &mode2))
> +	/* Paths can only be special if we're not recursing. */
> +	if (get_mode(name1, &mode1, recursing ? NULL : &special1) ||
> +	    get_mode(name2, &mode2, recursing ? NULL : &special2))
>  		return -1;

Ahh, OK.  If we are told to "diff --no-index D1 D2", even if we find
a fifo or symlink to a fifo, they aren't "<(foo)" process
substitutions.  Makes sense.  And because we do not handle FIFO in
such a case, we'd leave *mode (in get_mode()) to a value that we
never use (i.e. S_ISFIFO(*mode) is true); hopefully later part of
the control flow somewhere we will notice it and die?

>  	if (mode1 && mode2 && S_ISDIR(mode1) != S_ISDIR(mode2)) {
>  		struct diff_filespec *d1, *d2;
>  
>  		if (S_ISDIR(mode1)) {
>  			/* 2 is file that is created */
> -			d1 = noindex_filespec(NULL, 0);
> -			d2 = noindex_filespec(name2, mode2);
> +			d1 = noindex_filespec(NULL, 0, SPECIAL_NONE);
> +			d2 = noindex_filespec(name2, mode2, special2);
>  			name2 = NULL;
>  			mode2 = 0;
>  		} else {
>  			/* 1 is file that is deleted */
> -			d1 = noindex_filespec(name1, mode1);
> -			d2 = noindex_filespec(NULL, 0);
> +			d1 = noindex_filespec(name1, mode1, special1);
> +			d2 = noindex_filespec(NULL, 0, SPECIAL_NONE);
>  			name1 = NULL;
>  			mode1 = 0;
>  		}
> @@ -173,7 +218,7 @@ static int queue_diff(struct diff_options *o,
>  				n2 = buffer2.buf;
>  			}
>  
> -			ret = queue_diff(o, n1, n2);
> +			ret = queue_diff(o, n1, n2, 1);
>  		}
>  		string_list_clear(&p1, 0);
>  		string_list_clear(&p2, 0);
> @@ -189,8 +234,8 @@ static int queue_diff(struct diff_options *o,
>  			SWAP(name1, name2);
>  		}
>  
> -		d1 = noindex_filespec(name1, mode1);
> -		d2 = noindex_filespec(name2, mode2);
> +		d1 = noindex_filespec(name1, mode1, special1);
> +		d2 = noindex_filespec(name2, mode2, special2);
>  		diff_queue(&diff_queued_diff, d1, d2);
>  		return 0;
>  	}

Looks quite straight-forward.

> @@ -215,15 +260,27 @@ static void append_basename(struct strbuf *path, const char *dir, const char *fi
>   */
>  static void fixup_paths(const char **path, struct strbuf *replacement)
>  {
> -	unsigned int isdir0, isdir1;
> -
> -	isdir0 = path[0] != file_from_standard_input && is_directory(path[0]);
> -	isdir1 = path[1] != file_from_standard_input && is_directory(path[1]);
> +	struct stat st;
> +	unsigned int isdir0 = 0, isdir1 = 0;
> +	unsigned int ispipe0 = 0, ispipe1 = 0;
> +
> +	if (path[0] != file_from_standard_input && !stat(path[0], &st)) {
> +		isdir0 = S_ISDIR(st.st_mode);
> +		ispipe0 = S_ISFIFO(st.st_mode);
> +	}
> +
> +	if (path[1] != file_from_standard_input && !stat(path[1], &st)) {
> +		isdir1 = S_ISDIR(st.st_mode);
> +		ispipe1 = S_ISFIFO(st.st_mode);
> +	}
>  
>  	if ((path[0] == file_from_standard_input && isdir1) ||
>  	    (isdir0 && path[1] == file_from_standard_input))
>  		die(_("cannot compare stdin to a directory"));
>  
> +	if ((isdir0 && ispipe1) || (ispipe0 && isdir1))
> +		die(_("cannot compare a named pipe to a directory"));
> +

Nice.
Jeff King Aug. 9, 2023, 5:17 p.m. UTC | #2
On Wed, Jul 05, 2023 at 08:49:30PM +0100, Phillip Wood wrote:

> +test_expect_success PIPE 'diff --no-index refuses to diff a named pipe and a directory' '
> +	test_when_finished "rm -f pipe" &&
> +	mkfifo pipe &&
> +	{
> +		(>pipe) &
> +	} &&
> +	test_when_finished "kill $!" &&
> +	test_must_fail git diff --no-index -- pipe a 2>err &&
> +	grep "fatal: cannot compare a named pipe to a directory" err
> +'
> +
> +test_expect_success PIPE,SYMLINKS 'diff --no-index reads from pipes' '
> +	test_when_finished "rm -f old new new-link" &&
> +	mkfifo old &&
> +	mkfifo new &&
> +	ln -s new new-link &&
> +	{
> +		(test_write_lines a b c >old) &
> +	} &&
> +	test_when_finished "! kill $!" &&
> +	{
> +		(test_write_lines a x c >new) &
> +	} &&
> +	test_when_finished "! kill $!" &&
> +
> +	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
> +	diff --git a/old b/new-link
> +	--- a/old
> +	+++ b/new-link
> +	@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
> +	 a
> +	-b
> +	+x
> +	 c
> +	EOF
> +
> +	test_expect_code 1 git diff --no-index old new-link >actual &&
> +	test_cmp expect actual
> +'

I've had t4053 hang for me once or twice in the last few days. I haven't
managed to pinpoint the problem, but I did notice that running it with
--stress seems to occasionally fail in thie "reads from pipes" test.

The problem is that the "kill" is racy. Even after we've read all of the
input from those sub-processes, they might still be hanging around
waiting to exit when our test_when_finished runs. And then kill will
return "0". So I think we need to either:

  1. Soften the when_finished to "kill $! || true" so that we are OK if
     they are still there.

  2. If the diff command completed as expected, it should be safe to
     "wait" for each of them to confirm that they successfully wrote
     everything. I'm not sure it buys us much over testing the output
     from "diff", though.

I still don't see where the hang comes from, though. It might be
unrelated. I'll try to examine more next time I catch it in the act.

-Peff
Phillip Wood Aug. 10, 2023, 12:56 p.m. UTC | #3
Hi Eff

Thanks for reporting this

On 09/08/2023 18:17, Jeff King wrote:
> On Wed, Jul 05, 2023 at 08:49:30PM +0100, Phillip Wood wrote:
> 
>> +test_expect_success PIPE 'diff --no-index refuses to diff a named pipe and a directory' '
>> +	test_when_finished "rm -f pipe" &&
>> +	mkfifo pipe &&
>> +	{
>> +		(>pipe) &
>> +	} &&
>> +	test_when_finished "kill $!" &&
>> +	test_must_fail git diff --no-index -- pipe a 2>err &&
>> +	grep "fatal: cannot compare a named pipe to a directory" err
>> +'
>> +
>> +test_expect_success PIPE,SYMLINKS 'diff --no-index reads from pipes' '
>> +	test_when_finished "rm -f old new new-link" &&
>> +	mkfifo old &&
>> +	mkfifo new &&
>> +	ln -s new new-link &&
>> +	{
>> +		(test_write_lines a b c >old) &
>> +	} &&
>> +	test_when_finished "! kill $!" &&
>> +	{
>> +		(test_write_lines a x c >new) &
>> +	} &&
>> +	test_when_finished "! kill $!" &&
>> +
>> +	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
>> +	diff --git a/old b/new-link
>> +	--- a/old
>> +	+++ b/new-link
>> +	@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
>> +	 a
>> +	-b
>> +	+x
>> +	 c
>> +	EOF
>> +
>> +	test_expect_code 1 git diff --no-index old new-link >actual &&
>> +	test_cmp expect actual
>> +'
> 
> I've had t4053 hang for me once or twice in the last few days. I haven't
> managed to pinpoint the problem, but I did notice that running it with
> --stress seems to occasionally fail in thie "reads from pipes" test.
> 
> The problem is that the "kill" is racy. Even after we've read all of the
> input from those sub-processes, they might still be hanging around
> waiting to exit when our test_when_finished runs. And then kill will
> return "0". So I think we need to either:
> 
>    1. Soften the when_finished to "kill $! || true" so that we are OK if
>       they are still there.

I think this is the easiest option, I'll send a patch later today

>    2. If the diff command completed as expected, it should be safe to
>       "wait" for each of them to confirm that they successfully wrote
>       everything. I'm not sure it buys us much over testing the output
>       from "diff", though.

If the diff output is OK that's I think that's all we really care about.

> I still don't see where the hang comes from, though. It might be
> unrelated. I'll try to examine more next time I catch it in the act.

I had a look at the tests again and nothing jumped out at me. If you do 
manage to catch it hanging we should at least we should be able to tell 
which test is causing the problem.

Thanks again,

Phillip
diff mbox series

Patch

diff --git a/diff-no-index.c b/diff-no-index.c
index 4470e0271d..4771cf02aa 100644
--- a/diff-no-index.c
+++ b/diff-no-index.c
@@ -41,74 +41,119 @@  static int read_directory_contents(const char *path, struct string_list *list)
  */
 static const char file_from_standard_input[] = "-";
 
-static int get_mode(const char *path, int *mode)
+/*
+ * For paths given on the command-line we treat "-" as stdin and named
+ * pipes and symbolic links to named pipes specially.
+ */
+enum special {
+	SPECIAL_NONE,
+	SPECIAL_STDIN,
+	SPECIAL_PIPE,
+};
+
+static int get_mode(const char *path, int *mode, enum special *special)
 {
 	struct stat st;
 
-	if (!path || !strcmp(path, "/dev/null"))
+	if (!path || !strcmp(path, "/dev/null")) {
 		*mode = 0;
 #ifdef GIT_WINDOWS_NATIVE
-	else if (!strcasecmp(path, "nul"))
+	} else if (!strcasecmp(path, "nul")) {
 		*mode = 0;
 #endif
-	else if (path == file_from_standard_input)
+	} else if (path == file_from_standard_input) {
 		*mode = create_ce_mode(0666);
-	else if (lstat(path, &st))
+		*special = SPECIAL_STDIN;
+	} else if (lstat(path, &st)) {
 		return error("Could not access '%s'", path);
-	else
+	} else {
 		*mode = st.st_mode;
+	}
+	/*
+	 * For paths on the command-line treat named pipes and symbolic
+	 * links that resolve to a named pipe specially.
+	 */
+	if (special &&
+	    (S_ISFIFO(*mode) ||
+	     (S_ISLNK(*mode) && !stat(path, &st) && S_ISFIFO(st.st_mode)))) {
+		*mode = create_ce_mode(0666);
+		*special = SPECIAL_PIPE;
+	}
+
 	return 0;
 }
 
-static void populate_from_stdin(struct diff_filespec *s)
+static void populate_common(struct diff_filespec *s, struct strbuf *buf)
 {
-	struct strbuf buf = STRBUF_INIT;
 	size_t size = 0;
 
-	if (strbuf_read(&buf, 0, 0) < 0)
-		die_errno("error while reading from stdin");
-
 	s->should_munmap = 0;
-	s->data = strbuf_detach(&buf, &size);
+	s->data = strbuf_detach(buf, &size);
 	s->size = size;
 	s->should_free = 1;
 	s->is_stdin = 1;
 }
 
-static struct diff_filespec *noindex_filespec(const char *name, int mode)
+static void populate_from_pipe(struct diff_filespec *s)
+{
+	struct strbuf buf = STRBUF_INIT;
+	int fd = xopen(s->path, O_RDONLY);
+
+	if (strbuf_read(&buf, fd, 0) < 0)
+		die_errno("error while reading from '%s'", s->path);
+	close(fd);
+	populate_common(s, &buf);
+}
+
+static void populate_from_stdin(struct diff_filespec *s)
+{
+	struct strbuf buf = STRBUF_INIT;
+
+	if (strbuf_read(&buf, 0, 0) < 0)
+		die_errno("error while reading from stdin");
+	populate_common(s, &buf);
+}
+
+static struct diff_filespec *noindex_filespec(const char *name, int mode,
+					      enum special special)
 {
 	struct diff_filespec *s;
 
 	if (!name)
 		name = "/dev/null";
 	s = alloc_filespec(name);
 	fill_filespec(s, null_oid(), 0, mode);
-	if (name == file_from_standard_input)
+	if (special == SPECIAL_STDIN)
 		populate_from_stdin(s);
+	else if (special == SPECIAL_PIPE)
+		populate_from_pipe(s);
 	return s;
 }
 
 static int queue_diff(struct diff_options *o,
-		      const char *name1, const char *name2)
+		      const char *name1, const char *name2, int recursing)
 {
 	int mode1 = 0, mode2 = 0;
+	enum special special1 = SPECIAL_NONE, special2 = SPECIAL_NONE;
 
-	if (get_mode(name1, &mode1) || get_mode(name2, &mode2))
+	/* Paths can only be special if we're not recursing. */
+	if (get_mode(name1, &mode1, recursing ? NULL : &special1) ||
+	    get_mode(name2, &mode2, recursing ? NULL : &special2))
 		return -1;
 
 	if (mode1 && mode2 && S_ISDIR(mode1) != S_ISDIR(mode2)) {
 		struct diff_filespec *d1, *d2;
 
 		if (S_ISDIR(mode1)) {
 			/* 2 is file that is created */
-			d1 = noindex_filespec(NULL, 0);
-			d2 = noindex_filespec(name2, mode2);
+			d1 = noindex_filespec(NULL, 0, SPECIAL_NONE);
+			d2 = noindex_filespec(name2, mode2, special2);
 			name2 = NULL;
 			mode2 = 0;
 		} else {
 			/* 1 is file that is deleted */
-			d1 = noindex_filespec(name1, mode1);
-			d2 = noindex_filespec(NULL, 0);
+			d1 = noindex_filespec(name1, mode1, special1);
+			d2 = noindex_filespec(NULL, 0, SPECIAL_NONE);
 			name1 = NULL;
 			mode1 = 0;
 		}
@@ -173,7 +218,7 @@  static int queue_diff(struct diff_options *o,
 				n2 = buffer2.buf;
 			}
 
-			ret = queue_diff(o, n1, n2);
+			ret = queue_diff(o, n1, n2, 1);
 		}
 		string_list_clear(&p1, 0);
 		string_list_clear(&p2, 0);
@@ -189,8 +234,8 @@  static int queue_diff(struct diff_options *o,
 			SWAP(name1, name2);
 		}
 
-		d1 = noindex_filespec(name1, mode1);
-		d2 = noindex_filespec(name2, mode2);
+		d1 = noindex_filespec(name1, mode1, special1);
+		d2 = noindex_filespec(name2, mode2, special2);
 		diff_queue(&diff_queued_diff, d1, d2);
 		return 0;
 	}
@@ -215,15 +260,27 @@  static void append_basename(struct strbuf *path, const char *dir, const char *fi
  */
 static void fixup_paths(const char **path, struct strbuf *replacement)
 {
-	unsigned int isdir0, isdir1;
-
-	isdir0 = path[0] != file_from_standard_input && is_directory(path[0]);
-	isdir1 = path[1] != file_from_standard_input && is_directory(path[1]);
+	struct stat st;
+	unsigned int isdir0 = 0, isdir1 = 0;
+	unsigned int ispipe0 = 0, ispipe1 = 0;
+
+	if (path[0] != file_from_standard_input && !stat(path[0], &st)) {
+		isdir0 = S_ISDIR(st.st_mode);
+		ispipe0 = S_ISFIFO(st.st_mode);
+	}
+
+	if (path[1] != file_from_standard_input && !stat(path[1], &st)) {
+		isdir1 = S_ISDIR(st.st_mode);
+		ispipe1 = S_ISFIFO(st.st_mode);
+	}
 
 	if ((path[0] == file_from_standard_input && isdir1) ||
 	    (isdir0 && path[1] == file_from_standard_input))
 		die(_("cannot compare stdin to a directory"));
 
+	if ((isdir0 && ispipe1) || (ispipe0 && isdir1))
+		die(_("cannot compare a named pipe to a directory"));
+
 	if (isdir0 == isdir1)
 		return;
 	if (isdir0) {
@@ -297,7 +354,7 @@  int diff_no_index(struct rev_info *revs,
 	setup_diff_pager(&revs->diffopt);
 	revs->diffopt.flags.exit_with_status = 1;
 
-	if (queue_diff(&revs->diffopt, paths[0], paths[1]))
+	if (queue_diff(&revs->diffopt, paths[0], paths[1], 0))
 		goto out;
 	diff_set_mnemonic_prefix(&revs->diffopt, "1/", "2/");
 	diffcore_std(&revs->diffopt);
diff --git a/t/t4053-diff-no-index.sh b/t/t4053-diff-no-index.sh
index 4870443609..a28b9ff243 100755
--- a/t/t4053-diff-no-index.sh
+++ b/t/t4053-diff-no-index.sh
@@ -229,4 +229,44 @@  test_expect_success 'diff --no-index refuses to diff stdin and a directory' '
 	grep "fatal: cannot compare stdin to a directory" err
 '
 
+test_expect_success PIPE 'diff --no-index refuses to diff a named pipe and a directory' '
+	test_when_finished "rm -f pipe" &&
+	mkfifo pipe &&
+	{
+		(>pipe) &
+	} &&
+	test_when_finished "kill $!" &&
+	test_must_fail git diff --no-index -- pipe a 2>err &&
+	grep "fatal: cannot compare a named pipe to a directory" err
+'
+
+test_expect_success PIPE,SYMLINKS 'diff --no-index reads from pipes' '
+	test_when_finished "rm -f old new new-link" &&
+	mkfifo old &&
+	mkfifo new &&
+	ln -s new new-link &&
+	{
+		(test_write_lines a b c >old) &
+	} &&
+	test_when_finished "! kill $!" &&
+	{
+		(test_write_lines a x c >new) &
+	} &&
+	test_when_finished "! kill $!" &&
+
+	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
+	diff --git a/old b/new-link
+	--- a/old
+	+++ b/new-link
+	@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
+	 a
+	-b
+	+x
+	 c
+	EOF
+
+	test_expect_code 1 git diff --no-index old new-link >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
 test_done