Re: master 1d91d9b717d: project-vc-dir: Use truenames

Hi,

On 23/07/2026 19:42, João Távora wrote:
> Indeed, when reading it it appears to do something different, but I've 
> tried it and it does the right thing. Seems it almost never follows the 
> link (which is good in my view). I don't quite understand the conditions 
> under which it does. Maybe the fact that it fooled two programmers 
> already justifies a comment?

I'm curious if either of you finds the same logic inside 
'vc-refresh-state' more legible. I've had to trace it back when writing 
the patch, so it was the reference to compare. ;-)

Anyway, how about this? Does it feel a bit repeating itself? I would 
rather remove the last sentence but as the author I'm probably not the 
best judge for that.

diff --git a/lisp/vc/vc-dir.el b/lisp/vc/vc-dir.el
index 1ba834d94cc..45e999d95a3 100644
--- a/lisp/vc/vc-dir.el
+++ b/lisp/vc/vc-dir.el
@@ -1990,14 +1990,21 @@ vc-dir

    (interactive
     (list
-    ;; When you hit C-x v d in a visited VC file,
-    ;; the *vc-dir* buffer visits the directory under its truename;
-    ;; therefore it makes sense to always do that.
-    ;; Otherwise if you do C-x v d -> C-x C-f -> C-x v d
-    ;; you may get a new *vc-dir* buffer, different from the original
-    (file-truename (read-directory-name "VC status for directory: "
-					(vc-root-dir) nil t
-					nil))
+    (let ((dir (read-directory-name "VC status for directory: "
+                                    (vc-root-dir) nil t
+                                    nil))
+          truename)
+      ;; Try to match the result of `vc-refresh-state' in a file buffer.
+      ;; Otherwise if you do C-x v d -> C-x C-f -> C-x v d you may get a
+      ;; new *vc-dir* buffer, different from the original.
+      ;; We use the truename if the DIR has no VC backend detected, but
+      ;; its truename differs, and has a VC backend.
+      (if (and vc-follow-symlinks
+               (not (vc-responsible-backend dir t))
+               (not (equal dir (setq truename (file-truename dir))))
+               (vc-responsible-backend truename t))
+          truename
+        dir))
      (if current-prefix-arg
  	(intern
  	 (completing-read