[PATCH] fetch.c: defer fetch.followRemoteHEAD validation

From: Colin Hinton <colinlewishinton@gmail.com>
Date: Sep 22, 2026, 04:00 UTC
Message-ID: <20260922040047.2567-1-colinlewishinton@gmail.com>

Previously, fetch.followRemoteHEAD was validated and any invalid value was warned about unconditionally during config parsing.

Now store the raw config string instead, and resolve/validate it lazily at the one call in do_fetch(), so an irrelevant fetch no longer warns about an unrelated config value it never needed.

Signed-off-by: Colin Hinton <colinlewishinton@gmail.com>
---
 builtin/fetch.c | 57 ++++++++++++++++++++++++-------------------------
 1 file changed, 28 insertions(+), 29 deletions(-)

diff --git a/builtin/fetch.c b/builtin/fetch.c
index ab7db2be06..64ad26f5d4 100644
--- a/builtin/fetch.c
+++ b/builtin/fetch.c
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ static struct string_list negotiation_include = STRING_LIST_INIT_NODUP;
 
 struct fetch_config {
 	enum display_format display_format;
-	enum follow_remote_head_settings follow_remote_head;
+	char *follow_remote_head_raw;
 	int all;
 	int prune;
 	int prune_tags;
@@ -178,22 +178,29 @@ static int git_fetch_config(const char *k, const char *v,
 	if (!strcmp(k, "fetch.followremotehead")) {
 		if (!v)
 			return config_error_nonbool(k);
-		else if (!strcmp(v, "never"))
-			fetch_config->follow_remote_head = FOLLOW_REMOTE_NEVER;
-		else if (!strcmp(v, "create"))
-			fetch_config->follow_remote_head = FOLLOW_REMOTE_CREATE;
-		else if (!strcmp(v, "warn"))
-			fetch_config->follow_remote_head = FOLLOW_REMOTE_WARN;
-		else if (!strcmp(v, "always"))
-			fetch_config->follow_remote_head = FOLLOW_REMOTE_ALWAYS;
-		else
-			warning(_("unrecognized fetch.followRemoteHEAD value '%s' ignored"), v);
+		free(fetch_config->follow_remote_head_raw);
+		fetch_config->follow_remote_head_raw = xstrdup(v);
+		
 		return 0;
 	}
 
 	return git_default_config(k, v, ctx, cb);
 }
 
+static enum follow_remote_head_settings get_follow_remote_head(const char *setting)
+{
+	if (!strcmp(setting, "never"))
+		return FOLLOW_REMOTE_NEVER;
+	else if (!strcmp(setting, "create"))
+		return FOLLOW_REMOTE_CREATE;
+	else if (!strcmp(setting, "warn"))
+		return FOLLOW_REMOTE_WARN;
+	else if (!strcmp(setting, "always"))
+		return FOLLOW_REMOTE_ALWAYS;
+	warning(_("unrecognized fetch.followRemoteHEAD value '%s' ignored"), setting);
+	return FOLLOW_REMOTE_UNCONFIGURED;
+}
+
 static int parse_refmap_arg(const struct option *opt, const char *arg, int unset)
 {
 	BUG_ON_OPT_NEG(unset);
@@ -1922,7 +1929,7 @@ static int do_fetch(struct transport *transport,
 	struct ref_update_display_info_array display_array = { 0 };
 	struct strmap rejected_refs = STRMAP_INIT;
 	int summary_width = 0;
-	int follow_remote_head;
+	int follow_remote_head = 0;
 
 	if (tags == TAGS_DEFAULT) {
 		if (transport->remote->fetch_tags == 2)
@@ -1938,22 +1945,6 @@ static int do_fetch(struct transport *transport,
 			goto cleanup;
 	}
 
-	/*
-	 * NEEDSWORK: By the time this function executes, we have already parsed
-	 * all such followRemoteHEAD values from the external configuration,
-	 * potentially emitting warning messages for bogus values.  Ideally, if
-	 * this fetch ends up not needing to consult these values, then git would
-	 * not ever output a value warning. (eg: when pulling from a URL directly -
-	 * rather than a configured remote, or when a remote's followRemoteHEAD
-	 * overrides the fallback fetch setting)
-	 */
-	if (transport->remote->follow_remote_head)
-		follow_remote_head = transport->remote->follow_remote_head;
-	else if (config->follow_remote_head)
-		follow_remote_head = config->follow_remote_head;
-	else
-		follow_remote_head = BUILTIN_FOLLOW_REMOTE_HEAD_DFLT;
-
 	if (rs->nr) {
 		refspec_ref_prefixes(rs, &transport_ls_refs_options.ref_prefixes);
 	} else {
@@ -1962,6 +1953,14 @@ static int do_fetch(struct transport *transport,
 		if (transport->remote->fetch.nr) {
 			refspec_ref_prefixes(&transport->remote->fetch,
 					     &transport_ls_refs_options.ref_prefixes);
+
+			if (transport->remote->follow_remote_head)
+				follow_remote_head = transport->remote->follow_remote_head;
+			else if (config->follow_remote_head_raw)
+				follow_remote_head = get_follow_remote_head(config->follow_remote_head_raw);
+			else
+				follow_remote_head = BUILTIN_FOLLOW_REMOTE_HEAD_DFLT;
+			
 			if (follow_remote_head != FOLLOW_REMOTE_NEVER)
 				do_set_head = 1;
 		}
@@ -2509,7 +2508,7 @@ int cmd_fetch(int argc,
 {
 	struct fetch_config config = {
 		.display_format = DISPLAY_FORMAT_FULL,
-		.follow_remote_head = FOLLOW_REMOTE_UNCONFIGURED,
+		.follow_remote_head_raw = NULL,
 		.prune = -1,
 		.prune_tags = -1,
 		.show_forced_updates = 1,

-- 
2.55.0.windows.3