Improve documentation and comments regarding directory traversal API

traversal API has a few potentially confusing properties.  These
comments clarify a few key aspects and will hopefully make it easier
to understand for other newcomers in the future.

Signed-off-by: Adam Spiers <git@adamspiers.org>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>

3 files changed, 37 insertions, 6 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/technical/api-directory-listing.txt b/Documentation/technical/api-directory-listing.txt
index 0356d25974..944fc39fac 100644
--- a/Documentation/technical/api-directory-listing.txt
+++ b/Documentation/technical/api-directory-listing.txt
@@ -9,8 +9,11 @@ Data structure
 --------------
 
 `struct dir_struct` structure is used to pass directory traversal
-options to the library and to record the paths discovered.  The notable
-options are:
+options to the library and to record the paths discovered.  A single
+`struct dir_struct` is used regardless of whether or not the traversal
+recursively descends into subdirectories.
+
+The notable options are:
 
 `exclude_per_dir`::
 
@@ -39,7 +42,7 @@ options are:
 	If set, recurse into a directory that looks like a git
 	directory.  Otherwise it is shown as a directory.
 
-The result of the enumeration is left in these fields::
+The result of the enumeration is left in these fields:
 
 `entries[]`::
 
diff --git a/dir.c b/dir.c
index ee8e7115a8..89e27a6825 100644
--- a/dir.c
+++ b/dir.c
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
  * This handles recursive filename detection with exclude
  * files, index knowledge etc..
  *
+ * See Documentation/technical/api-directory-listing.txt
+ *
  * Copyright (C) Linus Torvalds, 2005-2006
  *		 Junio Hamano, 2005-2006
  */
@@ -476,6 +478,10 @@ void add_excludes_from_file(struct dir_struct *dir, const char *fname)
 		die("cannot use %s as an exclude file", fname);
 }
 
+/*
+ * Loads the per-directory exclude list for the substring of base
+ * which has a char length of baselen.
+ */
 static void prep_exclude(struct dir_struct *dir, const char *base, int baselen)
 {
 	struct exclude_list *el;
@@ -486,7 +492,7 @@ static void prep_exclude(struct dir_struct *dir, const char *base, int baselen)
 	    (baselen + strlen(dir->exclude_per_dir) >= PATH_MAX))
 		return; /* too long a path -- ignore */
 
-	/* Pop the ones that are not the prefix of the path being checked. */
+	/* Pop the directories that are not the prefix of the path being checked. */
 	el = &dir->exclude_list[EXC_DIRS];
 	while ((stk = dir->exclude_stack) != NULL) {
 		if (stk->baselen <= baselen &&
diff --git a/dir.h b/dir.h
index f5c89e3b80..e0869bca2f 100644
--- a/dir.h
+++ b/dir.h
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 #ifndef DIR_H
 #define DIR_H
 
+/* See Documentation/technical/api-directory-listing.txt */
+
 #include "strbuf.h"
 
 struct dir_entry {
@@ -13,6 +15,12 @@ struct dir_entry {
 #define EXC_FLAG_MUSTBEDIR 8
 #define EXC_FLAG_NEGATIVE 16
 
+/*
+ * Each .gitignore file will be parsed into patterns which are then
+ * appended to the relevant exclude_list (either EXC_DIRS or
+ * EXC_FILE).  exclude_lists are also used to represent the list of
+ * --exclude values passed via CLI args (EXC_CMDL).
+ */
 struct exclude_list {
 	int nr;
 	int alloc;
@@ -26,9 +34,15 @@ struct exclude_list {
 	} **excludes;
 };
 
+/*
+ * The contents of the per-directory exclude files are lazily read on
+ * demand and then cached in memory, one per exclude_stack struct, in
+ * order to avoid opening and parsing each one every time that
+ * directory is traversed.
+ */
 struct exclude_stack {
-	struct exclude_stack *prev;
-	char *filebuf;
+	struct exclude_stack *prev; /* the struct exclude_stack for the parent directory */
+	char *filebuf; /* remember pointer to per-directory exclude file contents so we can free() */
 	int baselen;
 	int exclude_ix;
 };
@@ -59,6 +73,14 @@ struct dir_struct {
 #define EXC_DIRS 1
 #define EXC_FILE 2
 
+	/*
+	 * Temporary variables which are used during loading of the
+	 * per-directory exclude lists.
+	 *
+	 * exclude_stack points to the top of the exclude_stack, and
+	 * basebuf contains the full path to the current
+	 * (sub)directory in the traversal.
+	 */
 	struct exclude_stack *exclude_stack;
 	char basebuf[PATH_MAX];
 };