Thread: pgsql: Perl scripts: eliminate "Useless interpolation" warnings

pgsql: Perl scripts: eliminate "Useless interpolation" warnings

From
Bruce Momjian
Date:
Perl scripts:  eliminate "Useless interpolation" warnings

Eliminate warnings of Perl Critic from src/tools.

Backpatch-through: master

Branch
------
master

Details
-------
https://git.postgresql.org/pg/commitdiff/43ce181059d4ecbb1b14b75e7f38a7dda9f80225

Modified Files
--------------
src/tools/copyright.pl       |  2 +-
src/tools/gen_export.pl      | 10 +++++-----
src/tools/gen_keywordlist.pl |  4 ++--
src/tools/msvc_gendef.pl     | 10 +++++-----
src/tools/version_stamp.pl   | 18 +++++++++---------
src/tools/win32tzlist.pl     |  2 +-
6 files changed, 23 insertions(+), 23 deletions(-)


Re: pgsql: Perl scripts: eliminate "Useless interpolation" warnings

From
Andrew Dunstan
Date:



On 2024-09-15 Su 10:56 AM, Bruce Momjian wrote:
Perl scripts:  eliminate "Useless interpolation" warnings

Eliminate warnings of Perl Critic from src/tools.

Backpatch-through: master



I don't understand this commit. The buildfarm members crake and koel regularly run the perl critic checks and have not complained. See for example from before this change: <https://buildfarm.postgresql.org/cgi-bin/show_stage_log.pl?nm=koel&dt=2024-09-15%2003%3A34%3A02&stg=perl-check>

The change doesn't seem to have had any discussion either. This particular warning is surely a very low level (i.e. fairly unimportant) one, of the type we normally ignore. If some version of perlcritic has raised it to severity 5 then the correct action IMNSHO would be to add an exception for it to the perlcriticrc, like we do for ProhibitLeadingZeros. If not, then perhaps you can explain how you got the warnings.


cheers


andrew



--
Andrew Dunstan
EDB: https://www.enterprisedb.com

Re: pgsql: Perl scripts: eliminate "Useless interpolation" warnings

From
Bruce Momjian
Date:
On Sun, Sep 15, 2024 at 02:30:47PM -0400, Andrew Dunstan wrote:
> 
> 
> On 2024-09-15 Su 10:56 AM, Bruce Momjian wrote:
> 
>     Perl scripts:  eliminate "Useless interpolation" warnings
> 
>     Eliminate warnings of Perl Critic from src/tools.
> 
>     Backpatch-through: master
> 
> 
> 
> I don't understand this commit. The buildfarm members crake and koel regularly
> run the perl critic checks and have not complained. See for example from before
> this change: <https://buildfarm.postgresql.org/cgi-bin/show_stage_log.pl?nm=
> koel&dt=2024-09-15%2003%3A34%3A02&stg=perl-check>
> 
> The change doesn't seem to have had any discussion either. This particular
> warning is surely a very low level (i.e. fairly unimportant) one, of the type
> we normally ignore. If some version of perlcritic has raised it to severity 5
> then the correct action IMNSHO would be to add an exception for it to the
> perlcriticrc, like we do for ProhibitLeadingZeros. If not, then perhaps you can
> explain how you got the warnings.

So, the warning is about the use of double-quotes when single-quotes
will work just fine.  I wrote a new script and changed it to single
quotes, so for consistency, I looked at other Perl scripts that might
have the issue.  The message I got was:

   /root/add_commit_links.pl: Useless interpolation of literal string at line 51 near 'my $tmpfile = $file . ".tmp";'.
(Severity:1)
 

My $HOME/.perlcritic has:

    severity = 1

and that is why I saw it.  Is it a bad change?

-- 
  Bruce Momjian  <bruce@momjian.us>        https://momjian.us
  EDB                                      https://enterprisedb.com

  When a patient asks the doctor, "Am I going to die?", he means 
  "Am I going to die soon?"



Re: pgsql: Perl scripts: eliminate "Useless interpolation" warnings

From
Andrew Dunstan
Date:


On 2024-09-15 Su 4:16 PM, Bruce Momjian wrote:
On Sun, Sep 15, 2024 at 02:30:47PM -0400, Andrew Dunstan wrote:
On 2024-09-15 Su 10:56 AM, Bruce Momjian wrote:
    Perl scripts:  eliminate "Useless interpolation" warnings
    Eliminate warnings of Perl Critic from src/tools.
    Backpatch-through: master



I don't understand this commit. The buildfarm members crake and koel regularly
run the perl critic checks and have not complained. See for example from before
this change: <https://buildfarm.postgresql.org/cgi-bin/show_stage_log.pl?nm=
koel&dt=2024-09-15%2003%3A34%3A02&stg=perl-check>

The change doesn't seem to have had any discussion either. This particular
warning is surely a very low level (i.e. fairly unimportant) one, of the type
we normally ignore. If some version of perlcritic has raised it to severity 5
then the correct action IMNSHO would be to add an exception for it to the
perlcriticrc, like we do for ProhibitLeadingZeros. If not, then perhaps you can
explain how you got the warnings.
So, the warning is about the use of double-quotes when single-quotes
will work just fine.  I wrote a new script and changed it to single
quotes, so for consistency, I looked at other Perl scripts that might
have the issue.  The message I got was:
   /root/add_commit_links.pl: Useless interpolation of literal string at line 51 near 'my $tmpfile = $file . ".tmp";'.  (Severity: 1)

My $HOME/.perlcritic has:
	severity = 1

and that is why I saw it.  Is it a bad change?


I understand perfectly what the warning is about.

But the project's perlcritic policy is expressed at src/tools/perlcheck/perlcriticrc. It's basically severity 5 plus some additions and one exception. We shouldn't be imposing our personal perlcritic policies on the project.

The change isn't bad in itself, but there shouldn't be any expectation that we will keep to this policy, as it's not required by project policy.

There is a huge mass of perlcritic issues in our perl code at severity 1 (over 13000 by my count). If we're going to clean them up (which I would oppose) we should do it in a systematic way. It's hard to see why this one is special.

cheers

andrew

--
Andrew Dunstan
EDB: https://www.enterprisedb.com

Re: pgsql: Perl scripts: eliminate "Useless interpolation" warnings

From
Bruce Momjian
Date:
On Sun, Sep 15, 2024 at 04:33:49PM -0400, Andrew Dunstan wrote:
> I understand perfectly what the warning is about.
> 
> But the project's perlcritic policy is expressed at src/tools/perlcheck/
> perlcriticrc. It's basically severity 5 plus some additions and one exception.
> We shouldn't be imposing our personal perlcritic policies on the project.
> 
> The change isn't bad in itself, but there shouldn't be any expectation that we
> will keep to this policy, as it's not required by project policy.
> 
> There is a huge mass of perlcritic issues in our perl code at severity 1 (over
> 13000 by my count). If we're going to clean them up (which I would oppose) we
> should do it in a systematic way. It's hard to see why this one is special.

I guess it is special only because my policy is more strict so I wanted
my new code to match.  Should I revert it?  Is the very tiny improvement
not worth the churn in the code?

-- 
  Bruce Momjian  <bruce@momjian.us>        https://momjian.us
  EDB                                      https://enterprisedb.com

  When a patient asks the doctor, "Am I going to die?", he means 
  "Am I going to die soon?"



Re: pgsql: Perl scripts: eliminate "Useless interpolation" warnings

From
Andrew Dunstan
Date:
On 2024-09-15 Su 4:36 PM, Bruce Momjian wrote:
> On Sun, Sep 15, 2024 at 04:33:49PM -0400, Andrew Dunstan wrote:
>> I understand perfectly what the warning is about.
>>
>> But the project's perlcritic policy is expressed at src/tools/perlcheck/
>> perlcriticrc. It's basically severity 5 plus some additions and one exception.
>> We shouldn't be imposing our personal perlcritic policies on the project.
>>
>> The change isn't bad in itself, but there shouldn't be any expectation that we
>> will keep to this policy, as it's not required by project policy.
>>
>> There is a huge mass of perlcritic issues in our perl code at severity 1 (over
>> 13000 by my count). If we're going to clean them up (which I would oppose) we
>> should do it in a systematic way. It's hard to see why this one is special.
> I guess it is special only because my policy is more strict so I wanted
> my new code to match.  Should I revert it?


Yes I think so.


> Is the very tiny improvement
> not worth the churn in the code?


Yeah, I don't think it is.


cheers


andrew


--
Andrew Dunstan
EDB: https://www.enterprisedb.com




Re: pgsql: Perl scripts: eliminate "Useless interpolation" warnings

From
Andrew Dunstan
Date:


On 2024-09-15 Su 9:28 PM, Bruce Momjian wrote:
On Sun, Sep 15, 2024 at 06:07:21PM -0400, Andrew Dunstan wrote:
On 2024-09-15 Su 4:36 PM, Bruce Momjian wrote:
On Sun, Sep 15, 2024 at 04:33:49PM -0400, Andrew Dunstan wrote:
I understand perfectly what the warning is about.

But the project's perlcritic policy is expressed at src/tools/perlcheck/
perlcriticrc. It's basically severity 5 plus some additions and one exception.
We shouldn't be imposing our personal perlcritic policies on the project.

The change isn't bad in itself, but there shouldn't be any expectation that we
will keep to this policy, as it's not required by project policy.

There is a huge mass of perlcritic issues in our perl code at severity 1 (over
13000 by my count). If we're going to clean them up (which I would oppose) we
should do it in a systematic way. It's hard to see why this one is special.
I guess it is special only because my policy is more strict so I wanted
my new code to match.  Should I revert it?
Yes I think so.
Okay, done.

Is the very tiny improvement
not worth the churn in the code?
Yeah, I don't think it is.
FYI, the line that got me started was:
	my ($tmpfilename) = $filename . ".tmp";

while I would write that with single quotes.  Because mine uses single
quotes and version_stamp.pl uses double-quotes, I started to try to
unify the style.


I would normally write this as

    my $tempfile = "$filename.tmp";

or possibly

    my $tempfile = "${filename}.tmp";

There's a perl mantra that says There Is More Than One Way To Do It, usually abbreviated to TIMTOWTDI, which perlcritic fights against to some extent. I think the idea of unifying style beyond the official project policy is an effort doomed to failure. Nobody is going to maintain that consistency, and the project has rejected attempts to have a stricter set of rules in the past.


I agree severity=1 generates many false warnings, and changing code
based on them can actually produce errors, but I do think there are some
safe ones like the single/double quote item we can improve.

Attached is my Perl critic file, where I do use severity=1, but turn off
various warnings.


Sure, or for something in between, there's the buildfarm policy at <https://github.com/PGBuildFarm/client-code/blob/main/.perlcriticrc>

cheers

andrew

--
Andrew Dunstan
EDB: https://www.enterprisedb.com