checkout_entry(): clarify the use of topath[] parameternd/lift-path-max

The said function has this signature:

	extern int checkout_entry(struct cache_entry *ce,
				  const struct checkout *state,
				  char *topath);

At first glance, it might appear that the caller of checkout_entry()
can specify to which path the contents are written out by the last
parameter, and it is tempting to add "const" in front of its type.

In reality, however, topath[] is to point at a buffer to store the
temporary path generated by the callchain originating from this
function, and the temporary path is always short, much shorter than
the buffer prepared by its only caller in builtin/checkout-index.c.

Document the code a bit to clarify so that future callers know how
to use the function better.

Noticed-by: Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy <pclouds@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>

3 files changed, 10 insertions, 1 deletions

diff --git a/builtin/checkout-index.c b/builtin/checkout-index.c
index b1feda7d5e..4ed6b23954 100644
--- a/builtin/checkout-index.c
+++ b/builtin/checkout-index.c
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 static int line_termination = '\n';
 static int checkout_stage; /* default to checkout stage0 */
 static int to_tempfile;
-static char topath[4][PATH_MAX + 1];
+static char topath[4][TEMPORARY_FILENAME_LENGTH + 1];
 
 static struct checkout state;
 
diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index 85b544f38d..3118b7fc99 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -975,6 +975,7 @@ struct checkout {
 		 refresh_cache:1;
 };
 
+#define TEMPORARY_FILENAME_LENGTH 25
 extern int checkout_entry(struct cache_entry *ce, const struct checkout *state, char *topath);
 
 struct cache_def {
diff --git a/entry.c b/entry.c
index fbb4863103..7b7aa8167a 100644
--- a/entry.c
+++ b/entry.c
@@ -234,6 +234,14 @@ static int check_path(const char *path, int len, struct stat *st, int skiplen)
 	return lstat(path, st);
 }
 
+/*
+ * Write the contents from ce out to the working tree.
+ *
+ * When topath[] is not NULL, instead of writing to the working tree
+ * file named by ce, a temporary file is created by this function and
+ * its name is returned in topath[], which must be able to hold at
+ * least TEMPORARY_FILENAME_LENGTH bytes long.
+ */
 int checkout_entry(struct cache_entry *ce,
 		   const struct checkout *state, char *topath)
 {