Re: [PATCH 0/3] --end-of-options marker

[Jeff King <peff@peff.net>]

On Tue, Aug 06, 2019 at 12:36:26PM -0400, Randall S. Becker wrote:

> > > This series provides an alternative to "--" to stop option parsing
> > > without indicating that further arguments are pathspecs.
> 
> Would this offer the opportunity to, in the long term, supply options to
> external diff engines, for example?
> 
> Something like git diff --end-of-options --diff-opt1 --diff-opt2 -- a b

I'd expect that to interpret "--diff-opt1" and "--diff-opt2" as
non-option arguments, which in the context of git-diff means endpoints
of the diff.

So no, I don't think you can use it like you're asking here.

> I'm just noodling here, wondering why otherwise
> 
> git rev-list --max-parents=4  -- --count docs/
> 
> does not work. I thought -- was pretty specific in terms of turning off
> interpretation. So is it not a defect that --count is being interpreted?

The command-line above means that "--count" is interpreted
(unambiguously) as a path. The problem is that if you want it to be
interpreted as a starting point for traversal, then it must come
_before_ the "--".

> I have a fear for all my sub-teams who script with the assumption that --
> has a specific meaning of stopping interpretation.

Nothing about "--" is changed by my series; it will still stop option
interpretation in rev-list and in other commands. But as before,
rev-list (and other Git commands that use the revision.c parser) use it
to separate revisions and pathspecs.  That's unlike how most other
programs use "--", but that ship sailed for Git in 2005.

-Peff