Re: [PATCH v5] git-send-email: use ! to indicate relative path to command

From: Jeff King <peff@peff.net>
To: Gregory Anders <greg@gpanders.com>
Cc: "brian m. carlson" <sandals@crustytoothpaste.net>,
	git@vger.kernel.org, Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v5] git-send-email: use ! to indicate relative path to command
Date: Tue, 11 May 2021 20:49:58 -0400	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <YJsmNoLu9B0SgWz7@coredump.intra.peff.net> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <YJslRhzOmSwD7V2E@gpanders.com>

On Tue, May 11, 2021 at 06:45:58PM -0600, Gregory Anders wrote:

> > > Elsewhere we use the ! syntax we invoke the shell, and I would suggest
> > > that we do the same here.  That means we'll get PATH functionality by
> > > default and we'll let people do a modicum of scripting if they like.
> > 
> > Thanks for bringing that up. I agree it makes things more consistent
> > with other uses of "!", and certainly it's more flexible. It does
> > introduce an inconsistency with the absolute-path form, as I mentioned
> > in https://lore.kernel.org/git/YJsiKDNbKclFU00b@coredump.intra.peff.net/.
> > 
> > I don't know if that's a show-stopper or not. Certainly the
> > documentation can explain the difference, but it's nice to keep the
> > rules as simple as possible.
> > 
> > (My gut feeling is that consistency with other "!" places is more
> > important than consistency with the absolute-path form).
> > 
> > -Peff
> 
> We already have sendemail.smtpServerOption to add options:
> 
>     [sendemail]
>             smtpServer = !msmtp
>             smtpServerOption = -f
>             smtpServerOption = greg@gpanders.com
> 
> I agree that it's not the prettiest and it's a little annoying to have to
> specify the option multiple times, but I thought it worth mentioning before
> considering another way to do the same thing.

Thanks for bringing that up. I agree that does give back some of the
flexibility, but it is inconsistent with most other parts of Git.

> I also am curious what other's thoughts are on Felipe's suggestion to add a
> sendemail.program option, which would altogether remove the need to further
> overload sendemail.smtpServer:
> https://lore.kernel.org/git/609b0017a323b_6064920888@natae.notmuch/
> 
> IMO if we want to add the capability to run an arbitrary shell command as
> the smtpServer, this makes more sense to add as a dedicated
> sendemail.program option that has that functionality baked right in:
> 
>     [sendemail]
>             program = "msmtp -f greg@gpanders.com"

Our mails just crossed, but yeah, I think that would be a fine
direction.

-Peff