From ff233d8dda12657a90d378f2b403bc6c85838c59 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: =?UTF-8?q?Martin=20=C3=85gren?= Date: Sun, 16 Aug 2020 12:01:18 +0200 Subject: [PATCH] Documentation: mark `--object-format=sha256` as experimental MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit After eff45daab8 ("repository: enable SHA-256 support by default", 2020-07-29), vanilla builds of Git enable the user to run, e.g., git init --object-format=sha256 and hack away. This can be a good way to gain experience with the SHA-256 world, e.g., to find bugs that GIT_TEST_DEFAULT_HASH=sha256 make test doesn't spot. But it really is a separate world: Such SHA-256 repos will live entirely separate from the (by now fairly large) set of SHA-1 repos. Interacting across the border is possible in principle, e.g., through "diff + apply" (or "format-patch + am"), but even that has its limitations: Applying a SHA-256 diff in a SHA-1 repo works in the simple case, but if you need to resort to `-3`, you're out of luck. Similarly, "push + pull" should work, but you really will be operating mostly offset from the rest of the world. That might be ok by the time you initialize your repository, and it might be ok for several months after that, but there might come a day when you're starting to regret your use of `git init --object-format=sha256` and have dug yourself into a fairly deep hole. There are currently topics in flight to document our data formats and protocols regarding SHA-256 and in some cases (midx and commit-graph), we're considering adjusting how the file formats indicate which object format to use. Wherever `--object-format` is mentioned in our documentation, let's make it clear that using it with "sha256" is experimental. If we later need to explain why we can't handle data we generated back in 2020, we can always point to this paragraph we're adding here. By "include::"-ing a small blurb, we should be able to be consistent throughout the documentation and can eventually gradually tone down the severity of this text. One day, we might even use it to start phasing out `--object-format=sha1`, but let's not get ahead of ourselves... There's also `extensions.objectFormat`, but it's only mentioned three times. Twice where we're adding this new disclaimer and in the third spot we already have a "do not edit" warning. From there, interested readers should eventually find this new one that we're adding here. Because `GIT_DEFAULT_HASH` provides another entry point to this functionality, document the experimental nature of it too. Signed-off-by: Martin Ågren Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano --- Documentation/git-index-pack.txt | 2 ++ Documentation/git-init.txt | 2 ++ Documentation/git-show-index.txt | 2 ++ Documentation/git.txt | 3 ++- Documentation/object-format-disclaimer.txt | 6 ++++++ 5 files changed, 14 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) create mode 100644 Documentation/object-format-disclaimer.txt diff --git a/Documentation/git-index-pack.txt b/Documentation/git-index-pack.txt index ac74d058e0..af0c26232c 100644 --- a/Documentation/git-index-pack.txt +++ b/Documentation/git-index-pack.txt @@ -100,6 +100,8 @@ OPTIONS value is set or outside a repository. + This option cannot be used with --stdin. ++ +include::object-format-disclaimer.txt[] NOTES ----- diff --git a/Documentation/git-init.txt b/Documentation/git-init.txt index ddfe265da5..f35f70f13d 100644 --- a/Documentation/git-init.txt +++ b/Documentation/git-init.txt @@ -53,6 +53,8 @@ current working directory. Specify the given object format (hash algorithm) for the repository. The valid values are 'sha1' and (if enabled) 'sha256'. 'sha1' is the default. ++ +include::object-format-disclaimer.txt[] --template=:: diff --git a/Documentation/git-show-index.txt b/Documentation/git-show-index.txt index 39b1d8eaa1..e49318a5a0 100644 --- a/Documentation/git-show-index.txt +++ b/Documentation/git-show-index.txt @@ -44,6 +44,8 @@ OPTIONS valid values are 'sha1' and (if enabled) 'sha256'. The default is the algorithm for the current repository (set by `extensions.objectFormat`), or 'sha1' if no value is set or outside a repository.. ++ +include::object-format-disclaimer.txt[] GIT --- diff --git a/Documentation/git.txt b/Documentation/git.txt index 3e50065198..e0a2690ba2 100644 --- a/Documentation/git.txt +++ b/Documentation/git.txt @@ -497,7 +497,8 @@ double-quotes and respecting backslash escapes. E.g., the value If this variable is set, the default hash algorithm for new repositories will be set to this value. This value is currently ignored when cloning; the setting of the remote repository - is used instead. The default is "sha1". + is used instead. The default is "sha1". THIS VARIABLE IS + EXPERIMENTAL! See `--object-format` in linkgit:git-init[1]. Git Commits ~~~~~~~~~~~ diff --git a/Documentation/object-format-disclaimer.txt b/Documentation/object-format-disclaimer.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..4cb106f0d1 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/object-format-disclaimer.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6 @@ +THIS OPTION IS EXPERIMENTAL! SHA-256 support is experimental and still +in an early stage. A SHA-256 repository will in general not be able to +share work with "regular" SHA-1 repositories. It should be assumed +that, e.g., Git internal file formats in relation to SHA-256 +repositories may change in backwards-incompatible ways. Only use +`--object-format=sha256` for testing purposes.