Subject: [PATCH v3] scalar: avoid segfault in reconfigure --all

From: "Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 08 May 2024 00:05:49 +0000

From: Derrick Stolee <[email-masked]>

During the latest v2.45.0 update, 'scalar reconfigure --all' started to
segfault on my machine. Breaking it down via the debugger, it was
faulting on a NULL reference to the_hash_algo, which is a macro pointing
to the_repository->hash_algo.

In my case, this is due to one of my repositories having a detached HEAD,
which requires get_oid_hex() to parse that the HEAD reference is valid.
Another way to cause a failure is to use the "includeIf.onbranch" config
key, which will lead to a BUG() statement.

My first inclination was to try to refactor cmd_reconfigure() to execute
'git for-each-repo' instead of this loop. In addition to the difficulty
of executing 'scalar reconfigure' within 'git for-each-repo', it would
be difficult to perform the clean-up logic for non-existent repos if we
relied on that child process.

Instead, I chose to move the temporary repo to be within the loop and
reinstate the_repository to its old value after we are done performing
logic on the current array item.

Add tests to t9210-scalar.sh to test 'scalar reconfigure --all' with
multiple registered repos. There are two different ways that the old
use of the_repository could trigger bugs. These issues are being solved
independently to be more careful about the_repository being
uninitialized, but the change in this patch around the use of
the_repository is still a good safety precaution.

Co-authored-by: Patrick Steinhardt <[email-masked]>
Signed-off-by: Patrick Steinhardt <[email-masked]>
Signed-off-by: Derrick Stolee <[email-masked]>
---
    scalar: avoid segfault in reconfigure --all
    
    Update 'scalar reconfigure --all' to be more careful with the_repository
    pointer, avoiding sudden halts in some scenarios.
    
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    I noticed this while validating the v2.45.0 release (specifically the
    microsoft/git fork, but this applies to the core project).
    
    Thanks, Patrick, for digging in and finding the critical reasons why
    this issue can happen. Patrick ACKed the sign-off in v2.
    
    v3 includes an update to the commit message. Sorry that I missed this
    paragraph when updating for v2.
    
    -Stolee

Published-As: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/releases/tag/pr-1724%2Fderrickstolee%2Fscalar-reconfigure-repo-handle-v3
Fetch-It-Via: git fetch https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git pr-1724/derrickstolee/scalar-reconfigure-repo-handle-v3
Pull-Request: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/pull/1724

Range-diff vs v2:

 1:  5be703b6c70 ! 1:  00d101986f8 scalar: avoid segfault in reconfigure --all
     @@ Commit message
          faulting on a NULL reference to the_hash_algo, which is a macro pointing
          to the_repository->hash_algo.
      
     -    This NULL reference appears to be due to the way the loop is abusing the
     -    the_repository pointer, pointing it to a local repository struct after
     -    discovering that the current directory is a valid Git repository. This
     -    repo-swapping bit was in the original implementation from 4582676075
     -    (scalar: teach 'reconfigure' to optionally handle all registered
     -    enlistments, 2021-12-03), but only recently started segfaulting while
     -    trying to parse the HEAD reference. This also only happens on the
     -    _second_ repository in the list, so does not reproduce if there is only
     -    one registered repo.
     +    In my case, this is due to one of my repositories having a detached HEAD,
     +    which requires get_oid_hex() to parse that the HEAD reference is valid.
     +    Another way to cause a failure is to use the "includeIf.onbranch" config
     +    key, which will lead to a BUG() statement.
      
          My first inclination was to try to refactor cmd_reconfigure() to execute
          'git for-each-repo' instead of this loop. In addition to the difficulty

 scalar.c          | 10 +++++++---
 t/t9210-scalar.sh | 38 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 45 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/scalar.c b/scalar.c
index fb2940c2a00..7234049a1b8 100644
--- a/scalar.c
+++ b/scalar.c
@@ -645,7 +645,6 @@ static int cmd_reconfigure(int argc, const char **argv)
 	};
 	struct string_list scalar_repos = STRING_LIST_INIT_DUP;
 	int i, res = 0;
-	struct repository r = { NULL };
 	struct strbuf commondir = STRBUF_INIT, gitdir = STRBUF_INIT;
 
 	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, NULL, options,
@@ -665,6 +664,7 @@ static int cmd_reconfigure(int argc, const char **argv)
 
 	for (i = 0; i < scalar_repos.nr; i++) {
 		int succeeded = 0;
+		struct repository *old_repo, r = { NULL };
 		const char *dir = scalar_repos.items[i].string;
 
 		strbuf_reset(&commondir);
@@ -712,13 +712,17 @@ static int cmd_reconfigure(int argc, const char **argv)
 
 		git_config_clear();
 
+		if (repo_init(&r, gitdir.buf, commondir.buf))
+			goto loop_end;
+
+		old_repo = the_repository;
 		the_repository = &r;
-		r.commondir = commondir.buf;
-		r.gitdir = gitdir.buf;
 
 		if (set_recommended_config(1) >= 0)
 			succeeded = 1;
 
+		the_repository = old_repo;
+
 loop_end:
 		if (!succeeded) {
 			res = -1;
diff --git a/t/t9210-scalar.sh b/t/t9210-scalar.sh
index 428339e3427..a41b4fcc085 100755
--- a/t/t9210-scalar.sh
+++ b/t/t9210-scalar.sh
@@ -180,6 +180,44 @@ test_expect_success 'scalar reconfigure' '
 	test true = "$(git -C one/src config core.preloadIndex)"
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'scalar reconfigure --all with includeIf.onbranch' '
+	repos="two three four" &&
+	for num in $repos
+	do
+		git init $num/src &&
+		scalar register $num/src &&
+		git -C $num/src config includeif."onbranch:foo".path something &&
+		git -C $num/src config core.preloadIndex false || return 1
+	done &&
+
+	scalar reconfigure --all &&
+
+	for num in $repos
+	do
+		test true = "$(git -C $num/src config core.preloadIndex)" || return 1
+	done
+'
+
+ test_expect_success 'scalar reconfigure --all with detached HEADs' '
+	repos="two three four" &&
+	for num in $repos
+	do
+		rm -rf $num/src &&
+		git init $num/src &&
+		scalar register $num/src &&
+		git -C $num/src config core.preloadIndex false &&
+		test_commit -C $num/src initial &&
+		git -C $num/src switch --detach HEAD || return 1
+	done &&
+
+	scalar reconfigure --all &&
+
+	for num in $repos
+	do
+		test true = "$(git -C $num/src config core.preloadIndex)" || return 1
+	done
+'
+
 test_expect_success '`reconfigure -a` removes stale config entries' '
 	git init stale/src &&
 	scalar register stale &&

base-commit: e326e520101dcf43a0499c3adc2df7eca30add2d
-- 
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