git doesn't support "-C" args under 1.8.5 occurs in configure.ac

[johanliu]

BPO	30411
Nosy	@ned-deily, @grimreaper, @zhangyangyu, @johanliu, @miss-islington
PRs	bpo-30411: git doesn't support "-C" args under 1.8.5 occurs in configure.ac #1679 bpo-30411: git doesn't support "-C" args under 1.8.5 occurs in configure.ac #1680 bpo-30411: Use --git-dir instead of -C to make git work under version below 1.8.5. #8744 [3.7] bpo-30411: Use --git-dir instead of -C to make git work under version below 1.8.5. (GH-8744) #8836 [3.6] bpo-30411: Use --git-dir instead of -C to make git work under version below 1.8.5. (GH-8744) #8837 [2.7] bpo-30411: Use --git-dir instead of -C to make git work under version below 1.8.5. (GH-8744)  #8838

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = None
closed_at = <Date 2018-08-20.15:19:30.543>
created_at = <Date 2017-05-20.09:29:22.278>
labels = ['3.8', 'build', '3.7']
title = 'git doesn\'t support "-C" args under 1.8.5 occurs in configure.ac'
updated_at = <Date 2018-08-20.15:19:30.542>
user = 'https://github.com/johanliu'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2018-08-20.15:19:30.542>
actor = 'xiang.zhang'
assignee = 'none'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2018-08-20.15:19:30.543>
closer = 'xiang.zhang'
components = ['Build']
creation = <Date 2017-05-20.09:29:22.278>
creator = 'Yuan Liu'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 30411
keywords = ['patch']
message_count = 6.0
messages = ['294021', '320032', '320290', '323790', '323792', '323794']
nosy_count = 5.0
nosy_names = ['ned.deily', 'eitan.adler', 'xiang.zhang', 'Yuan Liu', 'miss-islington']
pr_nums = ['1679', '1680', '8744', '8836', '8837', '8838']
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'fixed'
stage = 'resolved'
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = None
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue30411'
versions = ['Python 2.7', 'Python 3.6', 'Python 3.7', 'Python 3.8']

[johanliu]

git doesn't support "-C" args under 1.8.5 occurs in configure.ac

as I noticed from git release notes in 1.8.5:

• Just like "make -C <directory>", "git -C <directory> ..." tells Git
  to go there before doing anything else.

So we should have some conditional statements in configure.ac around git checkpoint, otherwise we got error message which is :

Unknown option: -C
usage: git [--version] [--help] [-c name=value]
[--exec-path[=<path>]] [--html-path] [--man-path] [--info-path]
[-p|--paginate|--no-pager] [--no-replace-objects] [--bare]
[--git-dir=<path>] [--work-tree=<path>] [--namespace=<name>]
<command> [<args>]

[zhangyangyu]

Encounter the same problem on centos7 and git version is 1.8.3. Instead of checking the version to use -C option, maybe we could just use --git-dir for the same purpose?

--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -2749,9 +2749,9 @@ HAS_GIT=no-repository
 fi
 if test $HAS_GIT = found
 then
-    GITVERSION="git -C \$(srcdir) rev-parse --short HEAD"
-    GITTAG="git -C \$(srcdir) describe --all --always --dirty"
-    GITBRANCH="git -C \$(srcdir) name-rev --name-only HEAD"
+    GITVERSION="git --git-dir \$(srcdir)/.git rev-parse --short HEAD"
+    GITTAG="git --git-dir \$(srcdir)/.git describe --all --always --dirty"
+    GITBRANCH="git --git-dir \$(srcdir)/.git name-rev --name-only HEAD"
 else
     GITVERSION=""
     GITTAG=""
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index b13728e..278ed9f 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -39,9 +39,9 @@ HAS_GIT=no-repository
 fi
 if test $HAS_GIT = found
 then
-    GITVERSION="git -C \$(srcdir) rev-parse --short HEAD"
-    GITTAG="git -C \$(srcdir) describe --all --always --dirty"
-    GITBRANCH="git -C \$(srcdir) name-rev --name-only HEAD"
+    GITVERSION="git --git-dir \$(srcdir)/.git rev-parse --short HEAD"
+    GITTAG="git --git-dir \$(srcdir)/.git describe --all --always --dirty"
+    GITBRANCH="git --git-dir \$(srcdir)/.git name-rev --name-only HEAD"
 else
     GITVERSION=""
     GITTAG=""

This could give me the right sys._git info.

[ned-deily]

Thanks for the PR. I agree with Xiang Zhang that using --git-dir appears to be a better solution. See other review comments on the PR.

[zhangyangyu]

New changeset 4c85557 by Xiang Zhang in branch 'master':
bpo-30411: Use --git-dir instead of -C to make git work under version below 1.8.5. (GH-8744)
4c85557

[miss-islington]

New changeset 2011dd7 by Miss Islington (bot) in branch '3.7':
bpo-30411: Use --git-dir instead of -C to make git work under version below 1.8.5. (GH-8744)
2011dd7

[zhangyangyu]

New changeset 95f9e14 by Xiang Zhang in branch '2.7':
[2.7] bpo-30411: Use --git-dir instead of -C to make git work under version below 1.8.5. (GH-8744) (GH-8838)
95f9e14