Subject: Re: [Outreachy][PATCH] abspath: reconcile `dir_exists()` and `is_directory()`

From: Emily Shaffer <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 24 Oct 2019 13:45:00 -0700

On Thu, Oct 24, 2019 at 02:13:45PM -0400, Jeff King wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 24, 2019 at 01:41:48PM +0200, SZEDER Gábor wrote:
> 
> > > diff --git a/builtin/clone.c b/builtin/clone.c
> > > index c46ee29f0a..f89938bf94 100644
> > > --- a/builtin/clone.c
> > > +++ b/builtin/clone.c
> > > @@ -899,12 +899,6 @@ static void dissociate_from_references(void)
> > >  	free(alternates);
> > >  }
> > >  
> > > -static int dir_exists(const char *path)
> > > -{
> > > -	struct stat sb;
> > > -	return !stat(path, &sb);
> > 
> > But look at this, it only checks that the given path exists, but it
> > could be a regular file or any other kind of path other than a
> > directory as well!
> > 
> > So this function clearly doesn't do what it's name suggests.  That's
> > bad.
> > 
> > Unfortunately, it gets worse: some of its callsites in
> > 'builtin/clone.c' do expect it to check the existence of _any_ path,
> > not just a directory.
> 
> Yes, that's the reason for the funny name (and the fact that it was
> never re-factored to use is_directory() in the first place). There's
> some more discussion in:
> 
>   https://public-inbox.org/git/[email-masked]/
> 
> and its subthread.

Hm. Then, is the solution to use dir_exists() for "a directory exists
here" and also add path_exists() for "literally anything exists here"?
That seems like it's still a pretty minor change. It'd be nice to
un-stick our Outreachy applicant :)

 - Emily