Hi all,

Posting here as I want some opinions.

With pacman 6.1, we introduced the GITFLAGS variable that controls how 

makepkg clones a git repo.   To quote Douglas Adams:

"This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a 

bad move"

Maybe that is just my opinion!

Essentially all git source features (i.e. build refs) supported by 

makepkg do not work using popular things like GITFLAGS="--mirror 

--filter=tree:0" or GITFLAGS="--depth=1".  So no building from branches, 

or specific commits, or....  This has resulted in bug reports and 

increasingly complicated suggestions for "fixes".

We can get around a few issues using a worktree instead of a clone for 

making the copy of the repo in $srcdir.  This actually worth doing 

anyway, as it will also help with LFS retrieval.

However, properly supporting all options that could be passed to 

GITFLAGS appears to be a never-ending / impossible task.  It also means 

we can not assume our checkout is bare, which has already had 

implications for other fixes we are working on.

I am proposing two possible solutions:

1) Document that any use of GITFLAGS that breaks makepkg features is not 

our problem.

2) Remove GITFLAGS.

Note that people wanting specific GITFLAGS can readily overwrite the 

relevant function in libmakepkg, so #2 is really not the end of the world...

I'm seeking options on which option to take.  Or is there a third 

option?   Option #2 would bring me joy, but I'd accept #1 if that is the 

prevailing opinion.

Cheers,

Allan