Elijah Newren <newren@xxxxxxxxx> writes: > On Thu, Jan 19, 2023 at 9:34 AM ZheNing Hu via GitGitGadget > <gitgitgadget@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: >> >> From: ZheNing Hu <adlternative@xxxxxxxxx> >> >> Because sometimes we want to check if the files in the >> index match the sparse specification, so introduce >> "%(skipworktree)" atom to git ls-files `--format` option. >> When we use this option, if the file match the sparse >> specification, it will output "1", otherwise, output >> empty string "". > > Why is that output format useful? It seems like it'll just lead to > bugs, or someone re-implementing the same field with a different name > to make it useful in the future. In particular, if there are multiple > boolean fields and someone specifies e.g. > git ls-files --format="%(path) %(skipworktree) %(intentToAdd)" > and both boolean fields are displayed the same way (either a "1" or a > blank string), and we see something like: > foo.c 1 > bar.c 1 > Then how do we know if foo.c and bar.c are SKIP_WORKTREE or > INTENT_TO_ADD? The "1" could have come from either field. Perhaps it becomes useful in conjunction with %(if) and friends, when they become avaiable? Until then, I agree that the output format looks pretty klunky. The calling scripts still can do --format='%(path) A=%(A) B=%(B) C=%(C)' and take an empty value as false, though.
