[PATCH v7 3/3] replay: add replay.refAction config option

From

Siddharth Asthana <siddharthasthana31@gmail.com>

Date

Nov 5, 2025, 19:16 UTC

Message-ID

<20251105191650.89975-4-siddharthasthana31@gmail.com>

In-Reply-To

<20251105191650.89975-1-siddharthasthana31@gmail.com>

The config variable uses string values that mirror the behavior modes:
  * replay.refAction = update (default): atomic ref updates
  * replay.refAction = print: output commands for pipeline

Helped-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Helped-by: Elijah Newren <newren@gmail.com>
Helped-by: Christian Couder <christian.couder@gmail.com>
Helped-by: Phillip Wood <phillip.wood123@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Siddharth Asthana <siddharthasthana31@gmail.com>
---
 Documentation/config/replay.adoc | 11 ++++++++
 Documentation/git-replay.adoc    |  2 ++
 builtin/replay.c                 | 24 ++++++++++++++---
 t/t3650-replay-basics.sh         | 46 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 4 files changed, 79 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 Documentation/config/replay.adoc

diff --git a/Documentation/config/replay.adoc b/Documentation/config/replay.adoc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7d549d2f0e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/config/replay.adoc
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+replay.refAction::
+	Specifies the default mode for handling reference updates in
+	`git replay`. The value can be:
++
+--
+	* `update`: Update refs directly using an atomic transaction (default behavior).
+	* `print`: Output update-ref commands for pipeline use.
+--
++
+This setting can be overridden with the `--ref-action` command-line option.
+When not configured, `git replay` defaults to `update` mode.
diff --git a/Documentation/git-replay.adoc b/Documentation/git-replay.adoc
index 2ef74ddb12..dcb26e8a8e 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-replay.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/git-replay.adoc
@@ -51,6 +51,8 @@ which uses the target only as a starting point without updating it.
 	* `print`: Output update-ref commands for pipeline use. This is the
 	  traditional behavior where output can be piped to `git update-ref --stdin`.
 --
++
+The default mode can be configured via the `replay.refAction` configuration variable.
 
 <revision-range>::
 	Range of commits to replay. More than one <revision-range> can
diff --git a/builtin/replay.c b/builtin/replay.c
index 94e60b5b10..6606a2c94b 100644
--- a/builtin/replay.c
+++ b/builtin/replay.c
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 #include "git-compat-util.h"
 
 #include "builtin.h"
+#include "config.h"
 #include "environment.h"
 #include "hex.h"
 #include "lockfile.h"
@@ -298,6 +299,22 @@ static enum ref_action_mode parse_ref_action_mode(const char *ref_action, const
 	die(_("invalid %s value: '%s'"), source, ref_action);
 }
 
+static enum ref_action_mode get_ref_action_mode(struct repository *repo, const char *ref_action)
+{
+	const char *config_value = NULL;
+
+	/* Command line option takes precedence */
+	if (ref_action)
+		return parse_ref_action_mode(ref_action, "--ref-action");
+
+	/* Check config value */
+	if (!repo_config_get_string_tmp(repo, "replay.refAction", &config_value))
+		return parse_ref_action_mode(config_value, "replay.refAction");
+
+	/* Default to update mode */
+	return REF_ACTION_UPDATE;
+}
+
 static int handle_ref_update(enum ref_action_mode mode,
 			     struct ref_transaction *transaction,
 			     const char *refname,
@@ -332,7 +349,7 @@ int cmd_replay(int argc,
 	const char *onto_name = NULL;
 	int contained = 0;
 	const char *ref_action = NULL;
-	enum ref_action_mode ref_mode = REF_ACTION_UPDATE;
+	enum ref_action_mode ref_mode;
 
 	struct rev_info revs;
 	struct commit *last_commit = NULL;
@@ -378,9 +395,8 @@ int cmd_replay(int argc,
 	die_for_incompatible_opt2(!!advance_name_opt, "--advance",
 				  contained, "--contained");
 
-	/* Parse ref action mode */
-	if (ref_action)
-		ref_mode = parse_ref_action_mode(ref_action, "--ref-action");
+	/* Parse ref action mode from command line or config */
+	ref_mode = get_ref_action_mode(repo, ref_action);
 
 	advance_name = xstrdup_or_null(advance_name_opt);
 
diff --git a/t/t3650-replay-basics.sh b/t/t3650-replay-basics.sh
index ec79234c80..cf3aacf355 100755
--- a/t/t3650-replay-basics.sh
+++ b/t/t3650-replay-basics.sh
@@ -268,4 +268,50 @@ test_expect_success 'reflog message for --advance mode' '
 	test_cmp expect-reflog reflog-msg
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'replay.refAction=print config option' '
+	# Store original state
+	START=$(git rev-parse topic2) &&
+	test_when_finished "git branch -f topic2 $START" &&
+
+	# Test with config set to print
+	test_config replay.refAction print &&
+	git replay --onto main topic1..topic2 >output &&
+	test_line_count = 1 output &&
+	test_grep "^update refs/heads/topic2 " output
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'replay.refAction=update config option' '
+	# Store original state
+	START=$(git rev-parse topic2) &&
+	test_when_finished "git branch -f topic2 $START" &&
+
+	# Test with config set to update
+	test_config replay.refAction update &&
+	git replay --onto main topic1..topic2 >output &&
+	test_must_be_empty output &&
+
+	# Verify ref was updated
+	git log --format=%s topic2 >actual &&
+	test_write_lines E D M L B A >expect &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'command-line --ref-action overrides config' '
+	# Store original state
+	START=$(git rev-parse topic2) &&
+	test_when_finished "git branch -f topic2 $START" &&
+
+	# Set config to update but use --ref-action=print
+	test_config replay.refAction update &&
+	git replay --ref-action=print --onto main topic1..topic2 >output &&
+	test_line_count = 1 output &&
+	test_grep "^update refs/heads/topic2 " output
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'invalid replay.refAction value' '
+	test_config replay.refAction invalid &&
+	test_must_fail git replay --onto main topic1..topic2 2>error &&
+	test_grep "invalid.*replay.refAction.*value" error
+'
+
 test_done

-- 
2.51.0