config: fix --comment formatting

When git adds comments itself (like "rebase -i" todo list and
"commit -e" log message editor), it always gives a comment
introducer "#" followed by a Space before the message, except for
the recently introduced "git config --comment", where the users are
forced to say " this is my comment" if they want to add their
comment in this usual format; otherwise their comment string will
end up without a space after the "#".

Make it more ergonomic, while keeping it possible to also use this
unusual style, by massaging the comment string at the UI layer with
a set of simple rules:

 * If the given comment string begins with '#', it is passed intact.
 * Otherwise, "# " is prefixed.
 * A string with LF in it cannot be used as a comment string.

Right now there is only one "front-end" that accepts end-user
comment string and calls the underlying machinery to add or modify
configuration file with comments, but to make sure that the future
callers perform similar massaging as they see fit, add a sanity
check logic in git_config_set_multivar_in_file_gently(), which is
the single choke point in the codepaths that consumes the comment
string.

Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>

Documentation/git-config.txt

@@ -9,9 +9,9 @@ git-config - Get and set repository or global options
 SYNOPSIS
 --------
 [verse]
-'git config' [<file-option>] [--type=<type>] [--comment=<value>] [--fixed-value] [--show-origin] [--show-scope] [-z|--null] <name> [<value> [<value-pattern>]]
-'git config' [<file-option>] [--type=<type>] [--comment=<value>] --add <name> <value>
-'git config' [<file-option>] [--type=<type>] [--comment=<value>] [--fixed-value] --replace-all <name> <value> [<value-pattern>]
+'git config' [<file-option>] [--type=<type>] [--comment=<message>] [--fixed-value] [--show-origin] [--show-scope] [-z|--null] <name> [<value> [<value-pattern>]]
+'git config' [<file-option>] [--type=<type>] [--comment=<message>] --add <name> <value>
+'git config' [<file-option>] [--type=<type>] [--comment=<message>] [--fixed-value] --replace-all <name> <value> [<value-pattern>]
 'git config' [<file-option>] [--type=<type>] [--show-origin] [--show-scope] [-z|--null] [--fixed-value] --get <name> [<value-pattern>]
 'git config' [<file-option>] [--type=<type>] [--show-origin] [--show-scope] [-z|--null] [--fixed-value] --get-all <name> [<value-pattern>]
 'git config' [<file-option>] [--type=<type>] [--show-origin] [--show-scope] [-z|--null] [--fixed-value] [--name-only] --get-regexp <name-regex> [<value-pattern>]
@@ -87,10 +87,11 @@ OPTIONS
 	values.  This is the same as providing '^$' as the `value-pattern`
 	in `--replace-all`.
 
---comment <value>::
-	Append a comment to new or modified lines. A '#' character will be
-	unconditionally prepended to the value. The value must not contain
-	linefeed characters (no multi-line comments are permitted).
+--comment <message>::
+	Append a comment at the end of new or modified lines.
+	Unless _<message>_ begins with "#", a string "# " (hash
+	followed by a space) is prepended to it. The _<message>_ must not
+	contain linefeed characters (no multi-line comments are permitted).
 
 --get::
 	Get the value for a given key (optionally filtered by a regex

builtin/config.c

@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ static struct option builtin_config_options[] = {
 	OPT_BOOL(0, "show-origin", &show_origin, N_("show origin of config (file, standard input, blob, command line)")),
 	OPT_BOOL(0, "show-scope", &show_scope, N_("show scope of config (worktree, local, global, system, command)")),
 	OPT_STRING(0, "default", &default_value, N_("value"), N_("with --get, use default value when missing entry")),
-	OPT_STRING(0, "comment", &comment, N_("value"), N_("human-readable comment string (# will be prepended automatically)")),
+	OPT_STRING(0, "comment", &comment, N_("value"), N_("human-readable comment string (# will be prepended as needed)")),
 	OPT_END(),
 };
 
@@ -800,9 +800,9 @@ int cmd_config(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	}
 
 	if (comment &&
-		!(actions & (ACTION_ADD|ACTION_SET|ACTION_SET_ALL|ACTION_REPLACE_ALL))) {
-			error(_("--comment is only applicable to add/set/replace operations"));
-			usage_builtin_config();
+	    !(actions & (ACTION_ADD|ACTION_SET|ACTION_SET_ALL|ACTION_REPLACE_ALL))) {
+		error(_("--comment is only applicable to add/set/replace operations"));
+		usage_builtin_config();
 	}
 
 	/* check usage of --fixed-value */
@@ -841,6 +841,13 @@ int cmd_config(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		flags |= CONFIG_FLAGS_FIXED_VALUE;
 	}
 
+	if (comment) {
+		if (strchr(comment, '\n'))
+			die(_("no multi-line comment allowed: '%s'"), comment);
+		if (comment[0] != '#')
+			comment = xstrfmt("# %s", comment);
+	}
+
 	if (actions & PAGING_ACTIONS)
 		setup_auto_pager("config", 1);
 

config.c

@@ -3043,12 +3043,9 @@ static ssize_t write_pair(int fd, const char *key, const char *value,
 			break;
 		}
 
-	if (comment) {
-		if (strchr(comment, '\n'))
-			die(_("multi-line comments are not permitted: '%s'"), comment);
-		else
-			strbuf_addf(&sb, "%s #%s\n", quote, comment);
-	} else
+	if (comment)
+		strbuf_addf(&sb, "%s %s\n", quote, comment);
+	else
 		strbuf_addf(&sb, "%s\n", quote);
 
 	ret = write_in_full(fd, sb.buf, sb.len);
@@ -3214,6 +3211,17 @@ int git_config_set_multivar_in_file_gently(const char *config_filename,
 	size_t contents_sz;
 	struct config_store_data store = CONFIG_STORE_INIT;
 
+	if (comment) {
+		/*
+		 * The front-end must have massaged the comment string
+		 * properly before calling us.
+		 */
+		if (strchr(comment, '\n'))
+			BUG("multi-line comments are not permitted: '%s'", comment);
+		if (comment[0] != '#')
+			BUG("comment should begin with '#': '%s'", comment);
+	}
+
 	/* parse-key returns negative; flip the sign to feed exit(3) */
 	ret = 0 - git_config_parse_key(key, &store.key, &store.baselen);
 	if (ret)

t/t1300-config.sh

@@ -71,16 +71,17 @@ cat > expect << EOF
 [section]
 	Movie = BadPhysics
 	UPPERCASE = true
-	penguin = gentoo #Pygoscelis papua
-	disposition = peckish #find fish
-	foo = bar ## abc
+	penguin = gentoo # Pygoscelis papua
+	disposition = peckish # find fish
+	foo = bar #abc
 [Sections]
 	WhatEver = Second
 EOF
+
 test_expect_success 'append comments' '
 	git config --replace-all --comment="Pygoscelis papua" section.penguin gentoo &&
 	git config --comment="find fish" section.disposition peckish &&
-	git config --comment="# abc" section.foo bar &&
+	git config --comment="#abc" section.foo bar &&
 	test_cmp expect .git/config
 '