Subject: Re: [PATCH] git-cvsserver: handle CVS 'noop' command.

From: Junio C Hamano <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 14:45:15 -0800

Stefan Karpinski <[email-masked]> writes:

> The implementation is trivial: ignore the 'noop' command
> if it is sent. This command is issued by some CVS clients,
> notably TortoiseCVS. Without this patch, TortoiseCVS will
> choke when git-cvsserver complains about the unsupported
> command.
>
> Signed-off-by: Stefan Karpinski <[email-masked]>
> ---
>
> Since this change has no negative impact, is too simple to
> be wrong, and improves interaction with some clients, it
> seem to me like a no-brainer to apply it.
>
>  git-cvsserver.perl |    2 +-
>  1 files changed, 1 insertions(+), 1 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/git-cvsserver.perl b/git-cvsserver.perl
> index fef7faf..c1e09ea 100755
> --- a/git-cvsserver.perl
> +++ b/git-cvsserver.perl
> @@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ while (<STDIN>)
>          # use the $methods hash to call the appropriate sub for this command
>          #$log->info("Method : $1");
>          &{$methods->{$1}}($1,$2);
> -    } else {
> +    } elsif ($1 ne 'noop') {
>          # log fatal because we don't understand this function. If this happens
>          # we're fairly screwed because we don't know if the client is expecting
>          # a response. If it is, the client will hang, we'll hang, and the whole
> -- 
> 1.6.0.3.3.g08dd8

Not a no-brainer at all, sorry.

Imagine what you would do when you discover another request a random other
client sends that you would want to ignore just like you did for 'noop'.
Viewed in this light, your patch is a very short sighted one that has a
big negative impact on maintainability.

A true no-brainer that has no negative impact would have been something
like the attached patch, that adds a method that does not do anything.

Even then, between req_CATCHALL and req_EMPTY, I am not sure which one is
expected by the clients, without consulting to the protocol documentation
for cvs server/client communication.  In the attached patch, I am guessing
from your patch that at least Tortoise does not expect any response to
it.

 git-cvsserver.perl |    1 +
 1 files changed, 1 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)

diff --git i/git-cvsserver.perl w/git-cvsserver.perl
index fef7faf..ca47e08 100755
--- i/git-cvsserver.perl
+++ w/git-cvsserver.perl
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ my $methods = {
     'log'             => \&req_log,
     'rlog'            => \&req_log,
     'tag'             => \&req_CATCHALL,
+    'noop'            => \&req_CATCHALL,
     'status'          => \&req_status,
     'admin'           => \&req_CATCHALL,
     'history'         => \&req_CATCHALL,