Re: Syntax for specifying a command in git config

[Jeff King <peff@peff.net>]

On Tue, May 11, 2021 at 12:07:46PM -0600, Gregory Anders wrote:

> Certain git config parameters (notably sendemail.smtpServer) expect an
> absolute path in order to use a command. If the value begins with a / git
> interprets it as a command; otherwise, it's interpreted it as a server
> hostname.
> 
> Using an absolute path is not very portable, however. If I want to have a
> common shared config file across multiple machines, each of which uses a
> command for smtpServer (e.g. msmtp) but installed at different locations, I
> have to modify the config file on each machine to update the absolute path.
> 
> Obviously this is not a *huge* deal, but it is a minor annoyance. I'm
> wondering if it would be possible to add a new syntax to config options like
> this. For example,
> 
>     [sendemail]
>             smtpServer = !msmtp
> 
> The leading ! character says "the following value is a command that should
> be looked up in PATH". This is congruent with alias definitions, where the
> leading ! means to run the following value as a command directly instead of
> as a git subcommand.
> 
> This also is unambiguous since server hostnames will never begin with a !
> character.

IMHO this is a good path forward. There's a thread from a few months ago
which talks about this idea:

  https://lore.kernel.org/git/YCvotU6KVruFuf9%2F@coredump.intra.peff.net/

There's some back and forth, and I'm not sure if I convinced Junio in
the end. But certainly a patch would be a good way to restart the
conversation. :)

-Peff