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Bash completion doesn't match non-canonical device names or files #842

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kevinoid opened this issue Aug 14, 2019 · 6 comments · Fixed by #870
Closed

Bash completion doesn't match non-canonical device names or files #842

kevinoid opened this issue Aug 14, 2019 · 6 comments · Fixed by #870

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@kevinoid
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The Bash completion scripts for commands which usually operate on block devices (blkdiscard, *disk, mkfs*) won't complete files other than the names of block devices from lsblk -pnro name. This excludes block devices under /dev/disk/, disk image files, custom device nodes, and probably other things which make the tools frustrating to use in these cases.

Would you be open to accepting a PR which completes these, either by default or as a fallback if compgen -W "$(lsblk -pnro name)" returns no matches?

Thanks for considering,
Kevin
@kerolasa
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I'm sure everyone agrees improvements are welcome. But why only as fallback? If there useful possibilities just list everything by default.

@kevinoid
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For sure. I'd be happy to change compgen -W "$(lsblk -pnro name)" to compgen -f. The only down-sides that I can think of are: 1) <tab> and /<tab> show contents of / instead of jumping straight to block devices, and 2) there will be a lot more output from /dev/<tab> which will show everything instead of just block devices.

I think compgen -f would be preferable, but assumed it would get push back from the author of compgen -W "$(lsblk -pnro name)" and would be harder to justify than fallback. What do you think?

@kerolasa
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Isn't there no better way to find custom devices paths than compgen -f? If not then scrapping lsblk -pnro name in favour of compgen -f is probably best option.

@kevinoid
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Sure, I could come up with a way to limit completions to block devices (either with or without fallback to regular files), but it may be annoying/surprising for users who want to run against a image file (e.g. sfdisk -d driveimage.raw), which might make compgen -f preferable (both for simplicity of implementation and behavior).

@karelzak
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hmm... add /dev/disk/by-* to the default will generate huge list with many duplicates and aliases. I think this directory should be added to the list only if user explicitly specifies /dev/disk/ on command line. The same with the current directory, for example:

blkdiscard   <tab>                 --> show $(lsblk -pnro name)
blkdiscard  /dev/disk  <tab>       --> show all the funny aliases
blkdiscard  ./   <tab>             --> show all files

I have no clue how difficult is to implement it, but it would be nice if user can control it by path prefix (/dev/disk, ./ ...) and default should be $(lsblk -pnro name) is nothing specified.

@kevinoid
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Thanks @karelzak, sounds good to me. That should be reasonably straightforward to implement. I'll take a stab at it soon.

kevinoid added a commit to kevinoid/util-linux that referenced this issue Sep 19, 2019
@kevinoid
bash-completion: Standardize fsck/mkfs file/device
559888c 
Some of the fsck and mkfs commands complete differently than the others,
and differently than the desired behavior.[1]  Standardize on completing
with $(lsblk -pnro name):

* fsck: Don't complete completes on all block devices and device links
  under /dev immediately (which is excessive and prone to search
  problems).
* mkfs, mkfs.bfs: Don't complete "/path/to/file" literally.  I assume
  this was copy/pasted from example code, since it does not appear to be
  a valid argument unless it is a valid path, which is rare.
* fsck.cramfs, mkfs, mkfs.bfs, mkfs.cramfs, mkswap: Don't complete on
  all filenames initially.  The desired behavior is to complete
  filenames only if there are no canonical matches.[1]

Note: A subsequent commit will add the desired fallback behavior.

[1]: util-linux#842 (comment)

Signed-off-by: Kevin Locke <kevin@kevinlocke.name>
kevinoid added a commit to kevinoid/util-linux that referenced this issue Sep 19, 2019
@kevinoid
bash-completion: Add fallback for symlinks/images
6ead91c 
For commands which support operating on files (i.e. disk images), it is
desirable for bash-completion to complete matching file names.  It is
also desirable to complete on block device symlinks (e.g. under
/dev/disk).  To complete common use cases, often on canonical device
names, continue to try completion using canonical device names, then
fall back to matching any file incrementally as Bash does by default.[1]

[1]: util-linux#842 (comment)

Signed-off-by: Kevin Locke <kevin@kevinlocke.name>
@kevinoid kevinoid mentioned this issue Sep 19, 2019
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bash-completion: Match non-canonical device names or files kevinoid/util-linux
3 participants
@kevinoid @kerolasa @karelzak