Subject: Re: [PATCH 4/5] merge-ort: prevent the_repository from coming back

From: Patrick Steinhardt <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2026 16:27:40 +0100

On Wed, Feb 18, 2026 at 09:15:14AM +0000, Elijah Newren via GitGitGadget wrote:
> From: Elijah Newren <[email-masked]>
> 
> There are two things preventing us from removing our usage of
> USE_THE_REPOSITORY_VARIABLE: one necessary use of the_repository in
> prefetch_for_content_merges(), and the use of DEFAULT_ABBREV.  We have
> removed all other uses of the_repository in merge-ort before (multiple
> times), but without removing that definition, they keep coming back.

Unfortunate, but I think it's okay to be pragmatic here.

> diff --git a/merge-ort.c b/merge-ort.c
> index 40a11dca73..ae19118550 100644
> --- a/merge-ort.c
> +++ b/merge-ort.c
> @@ -53,6 +53,8 @@
>  #include "unpack-trees.h"
>  #include "xdiff-interface.h"
>  
> +#define the_repository DO_NOT_USE_THE_REPOSITORY

Do we want to have a comment here that explains why we do this dance?

Patrick