Re: [PATCH v2 1/6] archive: optionally add "virtual" files

[Johannes Schindelin <Johannes.Schindelin@gmx.de>]

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Hi Junio,

On Mon, 7 Feb 2022, Junio C Hamano wrote:

> René Scharfe <l.s.r@web.de> writes:
>
> > We could use that option in Git's own Makefile to add the file named
> > "version", which contains $GIT_VERSION.  Hmm, but it also contains a
> > terminating newline, which would be a bit tricky (but not impossible) to
> > add.  Would it make sense to add one automatically if it's missing (e.g.
> > with strbuf_complete_line)?  Not sure.
>
> I do not think it is a good UI to give raw file content from the
> command line, which will be usable only for trivial, even single
> liner files, and forces people to learn two parallel option, one
> for trivial ones and the other for contents with meaningful size.

Nevertheless, it is still the most elegant way that I can think of to
generate a diagnostic `.zip` file without messing up the very things that
are to be diagnosed: the repository and the worktree.

> "--add-blob=<path>:<blob-object-name>" may be another option, useful
> when you have done "hash-object -w" already, and can be used to add
> single-liner, or an entire novel.

This would mess with the repository. Granted, it is unlikely that adding a
tiny blob will all of a sudden work around a bug that the user wanted to
report, but less big mutations have been known to subtly change a bug's
manifested symptoms.

So I really do not want to do that, not in `scalar diagnose.

> In any case, "--add-file=<file>", which we already have, would be
> more appropriate feature to use to record our "version" file, so
> there is no need to change our Makefile for it.

Same here. It is bad enough that `scalar diagnose` has to create a
directory in the current enlistment. Let's not make the situation even
worse.

The most elegant solution would have been that streaming `--add-file` mode
suggested by René, I think, but that's too involved to implement just to
benefit `scalar diagnose`. It's not like we can simply stream the contents
via `stdin`, as there are more than one "virtual" file we need to add to
that `.zip` file.

Ciao,
Dscho