Re: [PATCH] Use the template mechanism to set up refs/ hierarchy as well.

From: Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>
Date: Aug 5, 2005, 00:20 UTC
Message-ID: <7vll3hqlo6.fsf@assigned-by-dhcp.cox.net>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.4.62.0508041804120.23721@iabervon.org>

barkalow@iabervon.org writes:

> ... I seem to recall a patch to create subdirectories of
> .git/refs on demand (needed for tags/v99/1). I'd say just
> .git/objects/(everything), .git/refs, and .git/info.

Having thought about this a bit more, I am inclined to drop this. I see the template mechanism to be something that lets site and project policy makers set up the repositories to suit their taste, by having their users point their own template directory via the GIT_TEMPLATE_DIRECTORY environment variable. How $GIT_DIR/refs/heads/ and $GIT_DIR/refs/tags/ are used are quite deeply ingrained in the core tools, and there is no point pretending as if they can be overridden; they are not.

As Daniel says, refs/*/ are created mostly on-demand [*1*], so it is not strictly necessary to create "heads" and "tags" upfront, but they are so basic that I'd feel comfortable to keep them part of what are done by git-init-db.

[Footnote]

*1* I fixed one in receive-pack recently, but please fix things if you find any of the core tools assume that the leading paths already exist.