Re: Mistakes in commit log messages

[Alan Mackenzie]

Hello, Eli.

On Tue, Apr 11, 2023 at 17:57:35 +0300, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> > Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2023 14:01:48 +0000
> > Cc: Jim Porter <jporterbugs@gmail.com>, emacs-devel@gnu.org
> > From: Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de>

> > +  /^\* [a-zA-Z0-9_.~#-]/ {
> > +    nfiles++
> > +    if ((rc = (getline x < $2)) < 0) {
> > +      status = 1
> > +      print "File " $2 " cannot be read: [" ERRNO "]"

> The error message should explicitly mention an error in the file name
> or its leading directories, at least if ERRNO indicates the file does
> not exist.  "File FOO cannot be read is too "technical" and doesn't
> explain what we are checking.

You mean something like:

    print "Error in file or directory name " $2 " [" ERRNO "]"

?  I'm beginning to get a bit concerned about what happens after a file
has been removed from git, or renamed.  At least "cannot be read: " is
honest about what caused the error in the script.  Maybe I could add
another line suggesting how to bypass the checks in commit-msg.  What do
you think?

> Also, I'm not sure what is CWD when this script runs.  Suppose I
> invoke "git commit" from a subdirectory of the tree root -- does this
> find files in that case?

The current working directory is always the main working directory (see
man githooks(1)) unless it's a bare commit.

> > +    if (!nfiles) {
> > +      print "No file lines in commit message"
> > +      status = 1

> This was never an error before, so shouldn't be an error now.  Log
> messages saying just

>   Fix last change

> are quite common, and I don't want to disallow them.

Ah, OK.  It's just I've been known to neglect the "* " at times.  I'll
remove that bit, and submit a revised patch soon.

> In any case, I suggest that you (and maybe others) try running with
> this for some time, to make sure there are no regressions.

Will do.

> Thanks.

> P.S. Is 'getline' available in non-GNU Awk's?

The gawk manual implies strongly it is available in POSIX AWKs.  It
might even explicitly say so somewhere.  So I strongly suspect the
answer to your question is yes, but perhaps not in every AWK.

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).