Subject: [GSOC PATCH v6 0/3] environment: remove sparse-checkout related global variables

From: Ayush Chandekar <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 19 Jul 2025 05:41:25 +0530

This patch series aims to remove global variables related to sparse-checkout from the global scope and to remove the definition '#define USE_THE_REPOSITORY_VARIABLE' from a few files.

It contains three patches:

1 - Remove the global variable 'core_apply_sparse_checkout' and move its setting to the 'struct repo_settings'. Also remove the definition '#define USE_THE_REPOSITORY_VARIABLE' from "builtin/backfill.c". 

2 - Remove the global variable 'core_sparse_checkout_cone' and move its setting to the 'struct repo_settings'.

3 - Remove the global variable 'sparse_expect_files_outside_of_patterns` and move its setting to 'struct repo_settings'. Also remove the definition '#define USE_THE_REPOSITORY_VARIABLE' from "sparse-index.c"

Thanks a lot to Christian for mentoring, and to Junio, Patrick, Phillip and Ben for reviewing

Ayush Chandekar (3):
  environment: move access to "core.sparsecheckout" into repo_settings
  environment: move access to "core.sparsecheckoutcone" into
    repo_settings
  environment: remove the global variable
    'sparse_expect_files_outside_of_patterns'

 builtin/backfill.c        |  7 ++----
 builtin/clone.c           |  3 ++-
 builtin/grep.c            |  4 ++--
 builtin/mv.c              |  6 ++---
 builtin/sparse-checkout.c | 49 +++++++++++++++++++--------------------
 builtin/worktree.c        |  2 +-
 config.c                  | 24 -------------------
 dir.c                     |  5 ++--
 environment.c             |  3 ---
 environment.h             |  4 ----
 repo-settings.c           |  3 +++
 repo-settings.h           |  4 ++++
 sparse-index.c            |  9 ++++---
 unpack-trees.c            |  2 +-
 wt-status.c               |  3 ++-
 15 files changed, 51 insertions(+), 77 deletions(-)

-- 

Discussions since v5:
* For 1/3 and 2/3, Junio told me that it was concerning to put so many calls to `prepare_repo_settings()` so I tried to minimize the calls and made sure that there's no useless calling.
* For 3/3, Phillip told me that it broke user-facing as it will be parsed quite late in the callchain and might throw an error mid operation which we do not want.

Main problem I was dealing with was `prepare_repo_settings()`. I think we can try to get useless calls to `prepare_repo_settings()`. Other than that, I agree with the approach that came up in the discussion here:
https://lore.kernel.org/git/[email-masked]/
which was adding a call to `prepare_repo_settings()` in `repo_config()`.

Summary of range-diff:
* Changed some calls to `prepare_repo_settings()` to make sure that it is added in code paths only where it has no been called before. 
  Also changed a mistake in commit message: s/sparse-checkout.c/sparse-index.c  and have explained it more.
* Shifted the global variable to `struct repo_settings`(the previous version just localized it leading to user experience issues) and changed the commit message

Range-diff with v5:
1:  54ea376768 ! 1:  d0e2042b30 environment: move access to "core.sparsecheckout" into repo_settings
    @@ Commit message
         - In "dir.c", the function using 'settings.sparse_checkout' is invoked
           in multiple files that do not call `prepare_repo_settings()`, hence
           add a call directly to that function.
    -    - In "sparse-checkout.c", add a call to `prepare_repo_settings()` inside
    -      `is_sparse_index_allowed()`, as it is used widely and relies on the
    -      setting.
    +    - In "sparse-index.c", remove a call to `prepare_repo_settings()`
    +      from the function `is_sparse_index_allowed()` as it is called
    +      everytime before the function is called, and add a call to
    +      `prepare_repo_settings()` inside `convert_to_sparse()`, as it is
    +      used widely without having a call to `prepare_repo_settings()`
    +      before and relies on the setting.
         - In "wt-status.c", call `prepare_repo_settings()` before accessing
           the setting because the function using it is commonly used.
     
    @@ dir.c: enum pattern_match_result path_matches_pattern_list(
      int init_sparse_checkout_patterns(struct index_state *istate)
      {
     -	if (!core_apply_sparse_checkout)
    -+	prepare_repo_settings(istate->repo);
     +	if (!istate->repo->settings.sparse_checkout)
      		return 1;
      	if (istate->sparse_checkout_patterns)
      		return 0;
    +@@ dir.c: static int path_in_sparse_checkout_1(const char *path,
    + 	enum pattern_match_result match = UNDECIDED;
    + 	const char *end, *slash;
    + 
    ++	prepare_repo_settings(istate->repo);
    + 	/*
    + 	 * We default to accepting a path if the path is empty, there are no
    + 	 * patterns, or the patterns are of the wrong type.
     
      ## environment.c ##
     @@ environment.c: enum push_default_type push_default = PUSH_DEFAULT_UNSPECIFIED;
    @@ sparse-index.c: static int index_has_unmerged_entries(struct index_state *istate
      int is_sparse_index_allowed(struct index_state *istate, int flags)
      {
     -	if (!core_apply_sparse_checkout || !core_sparse_checkout_cone)
    -+	prepare_repo_settings(istate->repo);
     +	if (!istate->repo->settings.sparse_checkout || !core_sparse_checkout_cone)
      		return 0;
      
    @@ sparse-index.c: int is_sparse_index_allowed(struct index_state *istate, int flag
      		if (!istate->repo->settings.sparse_index)
      			return 0;
      	}
    +@@ sparse-index.c: int is_sparse_index_allowed(struct index_state *istate, int flags)
    + 
    + int convert_to_sparse(struct index_state *istate, int flags)
    + {
    ++	prepare_repo_settings(istate->repo);
    + 	/*
    + 	 * If the index is already sparse, empty, or otherwise
    + 	 * cannot be converted to sparse, do not convert.
     @@ sparse-index.c: static void clear_skip_worktree_from_present_files_full(struct index_state *ista
      
      void clear_skip_worktree_from_present_files(struct index_state *istate)
2:  c4d37dc7c5 ! 2:  d799faca3f environment: move access to "core.sparsecheckoutcone" into repo_settings
    @@ Commit message
         code to store it in the variable `sparse_checkout_cone` in the struct
         `repo_settings`.
     
    -    Call `prepare_repo_settings()` where necessary to ensure the `struct
    -    repo_settings` is initialized before use:
    -    - In "dir.c", the function accessing the setting is usually called after
    -      `prepare_repo_settings()`, except for one code path in
    -      "unpack-trees.c", so add a call there.
    -
         Avoid redundant calls to `prepare_repo_settings()` where it is already
         present:
         - In "builtin/mv.c" and "builtin/sparse-checkout.c", it is already
           invoked in their respective `cmd_*()` functions.
    -    - In "sparse-index.c", `prepare_repo_settings` is already called before
    -      the setting is accessed.
    +    - In "sparse-index.c", `prepare_repo_settings()` is already called
    +      before the setting is accessed.
    +    - In "dir.c", `prepare_repo_settings()` is already called in all code
    +      paths before the setting is accessed.
     
         This change is part of an ongoing effort to eliminate global variables,
         improve modularity and help libify the codebase.
    @@ repo-settings.h: struct repo_settings {
     
      ## sparse-index.c ##
     @@ sparse-index.c: static int index_has_unmerged_entries(struct index_state *istate)
    + 
      int is_sparse_index_allowed(struct index_state *istate, int flags)
      {
    - 	prepare_repo_settings(istate->repo);
     -	if (!istate->repo->settings.sparse_checkout || !core_sparse_checkout_cone)
     +	if (!istate->repo->settings.sparse_checkout || !istate->repo->settings.sparse_checkout_cone)
      		return 0;
      
      	if (!(flags & SPARSE_INDEX_MEMORY_ONLY)) {
    -
    - ## unpack-trees.c ##
    -@@ unpack-trees.c: enum update_sparsity_result update_sparsity(struct unpack_trees_options *o,
    - 		BUG("update_sparsity() called wrong");
    - 
    - 	trace_performance_enter();
    -+	prepare_repo_settings(the_repository);
    - 
    - 	/* If we weren't given patterns, use the recorded ones */
    - 	if (!pl) {
3:  84cb67469e ! 3:  35137b6814 environment: remove the global variable 'sparse_expect_files_outside_of_patterns'
    @@ Metadata
      ## Commit message ##
         environment: remove the global variable 'sparse_expect_files_outside_of_patterns'
     
    -    The global variable 'sparse_expect_files_outside_of_patterns' is used in
    -    a single function named 'clear_skip_worktree_from_present_files()' in
    -    sparse-index.c. Move its declaration inside that function, removing
    -    unnecessary global state.
    +    The setting "sparse.expectFilesOutsideOfPatterns" is stored in the
    +    global variable 'sparse_expect_files_outside_of_patterns' and allows
    +    files marked with the `SKIP_WORKTREE` bit to be present in the worktree.
    +
    +    As this setting is closely related to repository, remove the global
    +    variable and store the setting in the `struct repo_settings` along
    +    with other sparse checkout related settings.
     
         This also allows us to remove the definition '#define
         USE_THE_REPOSITORY_VARIABLE' from the file 'sparse-index.c'.
    @@ environment.h: extern int precomposed_unicode;
      	AUTOREBASE_NEVER = 0,
      	AUTOREBASE_LOCAL,
     
    + ## repo-settings.c ##
    +@@ repo-settings.c: void prepare_repo_settings(struct repository *r)
    + 	repo_cfg_bool(r, "core.usereplacerefs", &r->settings.read_replace_refs, 1);
    + 	repo_cfg_bool(r, "core.sparsecheckout", &r->settings.sparse_checkout, 0);
    + 	repo_cfg_bool(r, "core.sparsecheckoutcone", &r->settings.sparse_checkout_cone, 0);
    ++	repo_cfg_bool(r, "sparse.expectfilesoutsideofpatterns", &r->settings.sparse_expect_files_outside_of_patterns, 0);
    + 
    + 	/*
    + 	 * The GIT_TEST_MULTI_PACK_INDEX variable is special in that
    +
    + ## repo-settings.h ##
    +@@ repo-settings.h: struct repo_settings {
    + 
    + 	int sparse_checkout;
    + 	int sparse_checkout_cone;
    ++	int sparse_expect_files_outside_of_patterns;
    + };
    + #define REPO_SETTINGS_INIT { \
    + 	.shared_repository = -1, \
    +
      ## sparse-index.c ##
     @@
     -#define USE_THE_REPOSITORY_VARIABLE
    @@ sparse-index.c
      
      #include "git-compat-util.h"
     @@ sparse-index.c: static void clear_skip_worktree_from_present_files_full(struct index_state *ista
    - 
      void clear_skip_worktree_from_present_files(struct index_state *istate)
      {
    -+	int sparse_expect_files_outside_of_patterns = 0;
    -+	repo_config_get_bool(istate->repo, "sparse.expectfilesoutsideofpatterns",
    -+		&sparse_expect_files_outside_of_patterns);
      	if (!istate->repo->settings.sparse_checkout ||
    - 	    sparse_expect_files_outside_of_patterns)
    +-	    sparse_expect_files_outside_of_patterns)
    ++	    istate->repo->settings.sparse_expect_files_outside_of_patterns)
      		return;
    + 
    + 	if (clear_skip_worktree_from_present_files_sparse(istate)) {

2.49.0