sparse-checkout: create builtin with 'list' subcommand

The sparse-checkout feature is mostly hidden to users, as its
only documentation is supplementary information in the docs for
'git read-tree'. In addition, users need to know how to edit the
.git/info/sparse-checkout file with the right patterns, then run
the appropriate 'git read-tree -mu HEAD' command. Keeping the
working directory in sync with the sparse-checkout file requires
care.

Begin an effort to make the sparse-checkout feature a porcelain
feature by creating a new 'git sparse-checkout' builtin. This
builtin will be the preferred mechanism for manipulating the
sparse-checkout file and syncing the working directory.

The documentation provided is adapted from the "git read-tree"
documentation with a few edits for clarity in the new context.
Extra sections are added to hint toward a future change to
a more restricted pattern set.

Helped-by: Elijah Newren <newren@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Derrick Stolee <dstolee@microsoft.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>

.gitignore

@@ -158,6 +158,7 @@
 /git-show-branch
 /git-show-index
 /git-show-ref
+/git-sparse-checkout
 /git-stage
 /git-stash
 /git-status

Documentation/git-read-tree.txt

@@ -436,7 +436,7 @@ support.
 SEE ALSO
 --------
 linkgit:git-write-tree[1]; linkgit:git-ls-files[1];
-linkgit:gitignore[5]
+linkgit:gitignore[5]; linkgit:git-sparse-checkout[1];
 
 GIT
 ---

Documentation/git-sparse-checkout.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+git-sparse-checkout(1)
+======================
+
+NAME
+----
+git-sparse-checkout - Initialize and modify the sparse-checkout
+configuration, which reduces the checkout to a set of paths
+given by a list of atterns.
+
+
+SYNOPSIS
+--------
+[verse]
+'git sparse-checkout <subcommand> [options]'
+
+
+DESCRIPTION
+-----------
+
+Initialize and modify the sparse-checkout configuration, which reduces
+the checkout to a set of paths given by a list of patterns.
+
+THIS COMMAND IS EXPERIMENTAL. ITS BEHAVIOR, AND THE BEHAVIOR OF OTHER
+COMMANDS IN THE PRESENCE OF SPARSE-CHECKOUTS, WILL LIKELY CHANGE IN
+THE FUTURE.
+
+
+COMMANDS
+--------
+'list'::
+	Provide a list of the contents in the sparse-checkout file.
+
+
+SPARSE CHECKOUT
+---------------
+
+"Sparse checkout" allows populating the working directory sparsely.
+It uses the skip-worktree bit (see linkgit:git-update-index[1]) to tell
+Git whether a file in the working directory is worth looking at. If
+the skip-worktree bit is set, then the file is ignored in the working
+directory. Git will not populate the contents of those files, which
+makes a sparse checkout helpful when working in a repository with many
+files, but only a few are important to the current user.
+
+The `$GIT_DIR/info/sparse-checkout` file is used to define the
+skip-worktree reference bitmap. When Git updates the working
+directory, it updates the skip-worktree bits in the index based
+on this file. The files matching the patterns in the file will
+appear in the working directory, and the rest will not.
+
+## FULL PATTERN SET
+
+By default, the sparse-checkout file uses the same syntax as `.gitignore`
+files.
+
+While `$GIT_DIR/info/sparse-checkout` is usually used to specify what
+files are included, you can also specify what files are _not_ included,
+using negative patterns. For example, to remove the file `unwanted`:
+
+----------------
+/*
+!unwanted
+----------------
+
+Another tricky thing is fully repopulating the working directory when you
+no longer want sparse checkout. You cannot just disable "sparse
+checkout" because skip-worktree bits are still in the index and your working
+directory is still sparsely populated. You should re-populate the working
+directory with the `$GIT_DIR/info/sparse-checkout` file content as
+follows:
+
+----------------
+/*
+----------------
+
+Then you can disable sparse checkout. Sparse checkout support in 'git
+checkout' and similar commands is disabled by default. You need to
+set `core.sparseCheckout` to `true` in order to have sparse checkout
+support.
+
+SEE ALSO
+--------
+
+linkgit:git-read-tree[1]
+linkgit:gitignore[5]
+
+GIT
+---
+Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite

Makefile

@@ -1125,6 +1125,7 @@ BUILTIN_OBJS += builtin/shortlog.o
 BUILTIN_OBJS += builtin/show-branch.o
 BUILTIN_OBJS += builtin/show-index.o
 BUILTIN_OBJS += builtin/show-ref.o
+BUILTIN_OBJS += builtin/sparse-checkout.o
 BUILTIN_OBJS += builtin/stash.o
 BUILTIN_OBJS += builtin/stripspace.o
 BUILTIN_OBJS += builtin/submodule--helper.o

builtin.h

@@ -225,6 +225,7 @@ int cmd_shortlog(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix);
 int cmd_show(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix);
 int cmd_show_branch(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix);
 int cmd_show_index(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix);
+int cmd_sparse_checkout(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix);
 int cmd_status(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix);
 int cmd_stash(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix);
 int cmd_stripspace(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix);

builtin/sparse-checkout.c

@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+#include "builtin.h"
+#include "config.h"
+#include "dir.h"
+#include "parse-options.h"
+#include "pathspec.h"
+#include "repository.h"
+#include "run-command.h"
+#include "strbuf.h"
+
+static char const * const builtin_sparse_checkout_usage[] = {
+	N_("git sparse-checkout list"),
+	NULL
+};
+
+static char *get_sparse_checkout_filename(void)
+{
+	return git_pathdup("info/sparse-checkout");
+}
+
+static void write_patterns_to_file(FILE *fp, struct pattern_list *pl)
+{
+	int i;
+
+	for (i = 0; i < pl->nr; i++) {
+		struct path_pattern *p = pl->patterns[i];
+
+		if (p->flags & PATTERN_FLAG_NEGATIVE)
+			fprintf(fp, "!");
+
+		fprintf(fp, "%s", p->pattern);
+
+		if (p->flags & PATTERN_FLAG_MUSTBEDIR)
+			fprintf(fp, "/");
+
+		fprintf(fp, "\n");
+	}
+}
+
+static int sparse_checkout_list(int argc, const char **argv)
+{
+	struct pattern_list pl;
+	char *sparse_filename;
+	int res;
+
+	memset(&pl, 0, sizeof(pl));
+
+	sparse_filename = get_sparse_checkout_filename();
+	res = add_patterns_from_file_to_list(sparse_filename, "", 0, &pl, NULL);
+	free(sparse_filename);
+
+	if (res < 0) {
+		warning(_("this worktree is not sparse (sparse-checkout file may not exist)"));
+		return 0;
+	}
+
+	write_patterns_to_file(stdout, &pl);
+	clear_pattern_list(&pl);
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
+int cmd_sparse_checkout(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
+{
+	static struct option builtin_sparse_checkout_options[] = {
+		OPT_END(),
+	};
+
+	if (argc == 2 && !strcmp(argv[1], "-h"))
+		usage_with_options(builtin_sparse_checkout_usage,
+				   builtin_sparse_checkout_options);
+
+	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, prefix,
+			     builtin_sparse_checkout_options,
+			     builtin_sparse_checkout_usage,
+			     PARSE_OPT_STOP_AT_NON_OPTION);
+
+	git_config(git_default_config, NULL);
+
+	if (argc > 0) {
+		if (!strcmp(argv[0], "list"))
+			return sparse_checkout_list(argc, argv);
+	}
+
+	usage_with_options(builtin_sparse_checkout_usage,
+			   builtin_sparse_checkout_options);
+}

command-list.txt

@@ -166,6 +166,7 @@ git-show-index                          plumbinginterrogators
 git-show-ref                            plumbinginterrogators
 git-sh-i18n                             purehelpers
 git-sh-setup                            purehelpers
+git-sparse-checkout                     mainporcelain           worktree
 git-stash                               mainporcelain
 git-stage                                                               complete
 git-status                              mainporcelain           info

git.c

@@ -572,6 +572,7 @@ static struct cmd_struct commands[] = {
 	{ "show-branch", cmd_show_branch, RUN_SETUP },
 	{ "show-index", cmd_show_index },
 	{ "show-ref", cmd_show_ref, RUN_SETUP },
+	{ "sparse-checkout", cmd_sparse_checkout, RUN_SETUP | NEED_WORK_TREE },
 	{ "stage", cmd_add, RUN_SETUP | NEED_WORK_TREE },
 	/*
 	 * NEEDSWORK: Until the builtin stash is thoroughly robust and no

t/t1091-sparse-checkout-builtin.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+test_description='sparse checkout builtin tests'
+
+. ./test-lib.sh
+
+test_expect_success 'setup' '
+	git init repo &&
+	(
+		cd repo &&
+		echo "initial" >a &&
+		mkdir folder1 folder2 deep &&
+		mkdir deep/deeper1 deep/deeper2 &&
+		mkdir deep/deeper1/deepest &&
+		cp a folder1 &&
+		cp a folder2 &&
+		cp a deep &&
+		cp a deep/deeper1 &&
+		cp a deep/deeper2 &&
+		cp a deep/deeper1/deepest &&
+		git add . &&
+		git commit -m "initial commit"
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'git sparse-checkout list (empty)' '
+	git -C repo sparse-checkout list >list 2>err &&
+	test_must_be_empty list &&
+	test_i18ngrep "this worktree is not sparse (sparse-checkout file may not exist)" err
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'git sparse-checkout list (populated)' '
+	test_when_finished rm -f repo/.git/info/sparse-checkout &&
+	cat >repo/.git/info/sparse-checkout <<-EOF &&
+		/folder1/*
+		/deep/
+		**/a
+		!*bin*
+	EOF
+	cp repo/.git/info/sparse-checkout expect &&
+	git -C repo sparse-checkout list >list &&
+	test_cmp expect list
+'
+
+test_done