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Re: [PATCH v3] worktree add: improve message for ambiguous remote branch name

From
Yoichi Nakayama <yoichi.nakayama@gmail.com>
Date
Aug 15, 2026, 04:36 UTC
Message-ID
<CAF5D8-tfAfjNONh8dbqxmF+kzzaQ4rSQL94DK2=TLd9_HV9oaA@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To
<xmqqjypvw3cg.fsf@gitster.g>
On Thu, Aug 13, 2026 at 4:22 AM Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> wrote:
Show 29 quoted lines
>
> Yoichi Nakayama <yoichi.nakayama@gmail.com> writes:
>
> >> Instead of throwing the problem back to the user with four extra
> >> lines of message telling them how to run 'git branch', I would have
> >> expected this patch to teach unique_tracking_name() to optionally
> >> return the list of remotes with that branch name, and to use that
> >> result in this message.  However, if the goal is simply to provide
> >> something better than 'invalid reference', we do not even need to
> >> go that far.  Just stating that branch 'y' appears on multiple
> >> remotes and asking them to clarify which one they mean might be a
> >> sufficient improvement.
> >
> > Extending `unique_tracking_name()` would also affect the implementation
> > in `checkout.c`, and since the goal here is to improve the messages
> > (making them as helpful as those in `checkout`), I will hold off on doing
> > that for now.
>
> Sorry but I do not quite understand this logic.
>
> Giving unique_tracking_name() the optional ability to report which
> remotes have a branch with the given name does not have to affect
> other callers of the function at all; that is the definition of a
> new feature being "optional."
>
> Furthermore, the goal of improving these messages falls short if we
> withhold the list of remotes the user could have meant, which we are
> already computing internally to decide that the original request is
> ambiguous.

That is certainly true. I think the modification to `unique_tracking_name()` that you shared is good.

Show 17 quoted lines
> >> Could the original request be aiming to create a new worktree with
> >> the HEAD detached at the commit pointed at by the remote-tracking
> >> branch, instead of creating a local branch forked from it?  I am
> >> just wondering if "-b %s" is too specific to one possible
> >> interpretation that may contradict to what the user actually wanted
> >> to do.
> >
> > If the user is aiming to create a new worktree with the HEAD detached,
> > one would specify a fully qualified branch name like origin/bar-topic,
> > starting with a remote name.
>
> I am not sure about this part, either.  After all, we are trying to
> help a user who made a mistake composing their command-line
> arguments.  If they specify a fully qualified branch name like
> 'origin/bar-topic' (regardless of whether they want to create a
> detached 'HEAD' or not), they would not hit the 'saying bar-topic
> alone is ambiguous' error path, would they?
If the user specifies a fully qualified branch name like
    git worktree add ../foo-dir origin/bar-topic
the 2nd argument 'origin/bar-topic' will be resolved by
    commit = lookup_commit_reference_by_name(branch);
before calling unique_tracking_name(), so the ambiguous warning
won't occur.

In a worst-case scenario, a user might make a typo in the 2nd argument (e.g. origin/bar-topik) that fails to match a local ref (e.g. refs/remotes/origin/bar-topic) but accidentally matches multiple remote branch names (e.g. branches related to refs/remotes/remote1/origin/bar-topik and refs/remotes/remote2/origin/bar-topik), then it could cause an issue. However, I think this is an edge case that doesn't need to be considered.

Thanks,
-- 
Yoichi NAKAYAMA
Previous: Junio C HamanoNext: Yoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget
Message 21 of 62 in “worktree add: improve message for ambiguous remote branch name”
  1. worktree add: improve message for ambiguous remote branch nameYoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget, Aug 8, 2026
  2. Junio C HamanoAug 8, 2026
  3. Junio C HamanoAug 8, 2026
  4. Harald NordgrenAug 9, 2026
  5. Junio C HamanoAug 9, 2026
  6. Harald NordgrenAug 10, 2026
  7. Junio C HamanoAug 9, 2026
  8. Yoichi NakayamaAug 10, 2026
  9. Yoichi NakayamaAug 10, 2026
  10. D. Ben KnobleAug 10, 2026
  11. Yoichi NakayamaAug 10, 2026
  12. Junio C HamanoAug 10, 2026
  13. Yoichi NakayamaAug 10, 2026
  14. Ben KnobleAug 11, 2026
  15. Yoichi NakayamaAug 12, 2026
  16. worktree add: improve message for ambiguous remote branch nameYoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget, Aug 10, 2026
  17. worktree add: improve message for ambiguous remote branch nameYoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget, Aug 10, 2026
  18. Junio C HamanoAug 11, 2026
  19. Yoichi NakayamaAug 11, 2026
  20. Junio C HamanoAug 12, 2026
  21. Yoichi NakayamaAug 15, 2026
  22. worktree add: improve message for ambiguous remote branch nameYoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget, Aug 11, 2026
  23. 0/2 worktree add: improve message for ambiguous remote branch nameYoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget, Aug 19, 2026
  24. 1/2 checkout: improve message for ambiguous remote branch nameYoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget, Aug 19, 2026
  25. D. Ben KnobleAug 19, 2026
  26. Junio C HamanoAug 20, 2026
  27. Yoichi NakayamaAug 20, 2026
  28. 2/2 worktree add: improve message for ambiguous remote branch nameYoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget, Aug 19, 2026
  29. 0/3 worktree add: improve message for ambiguous remote branch nameYoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget, Aug 20, 2026
  30. 1/3 checkout: extract function to display advice for ambiguous remotesYoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget, Aug 20, 2026
  31. 2/3 checkout: improve message for ambiguous remote branch nameYoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget, Aug 20, 2026
  32. 3/3 worktree add: improve message for ambiguous remote branch nameYoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget, Aug 20, 2026
  33. Junio C HamanoAug 21, 2026
  34. Yoichi NakayamaAug 21, 2026
  35. Junio C HamanoAug 21, 2026
  36. Yoichi NakayamaAug 22, 2026
  37. Junio C HamanoAug 22, 2026
  38. Yoichi NakayamaAug 24, 2026
  39. 0/3 worktree add: improve message for ambiguous remote branch nameYoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget, Aug 22, 2026
  40. 1/3 checkout: extract function to display advice for ambiguous remotesYoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget, Aug 22, 2026
  41. 2/3 checkout: improve message for ambiguous remote branch nameYoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget, Aug 22, 2026
  42. 3/3 worktree add: improve message for ambiguous remote branch nameYoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget, Aug 22, 2026
  43. Junio C HamanoAug 22, 2026
  44. 0/4 worktree add: improve message for ambiguous remote branch nameYoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget, Aug 25, 2026
  45. 1/4 checkout: extract function to display advice for ambiguous remotesYoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget, Aug 25, 2026
  46. 2/4 checkout: improve message for ambiguous remote branch nameYoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget, Aug 25, 2026
  47. 3/4 worktree add: improve message for ambiguous remote branch nameYoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget, Aug 25, 2026
  48. 4/4 worktree add: treat multiple matches with --guess-remote as an errorYoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget, Aug 25, 2026
  49. Junio C HamanoAug 25, 2026
  50. 0/4 worktree add: improve message for ambiguous remote branch nameYoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget, Aug 26, 2026
  51. 1/4 checkout: extract function to display advice for ambiguous remotesYoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget, Aug 26, 2026
  52. Junio C HamanoAug 26, 2026
  53. 2/4 checkout: improve message for ambiguous remote branch nameYoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget, Aug 26, 2026
  54. Junio C HamanoAug 26, 2026
  55. 3/4 worktree add: improve message for ambiguous remote branch nameYoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget, Aug 26, 2026
  56. 4/4 worktree add: treat multiple matches with --guess-remote as an errorYoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget, Aug 26, 2026
  57. 0/4 worktree add: improve message for ambiguous remote branch nameYoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget, Aug 27, 2026
  58. 1/4 checkout: extract function to display advice for ambiguous remotesYoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget, Aug 27, 2026
  59. 2/4 checkout: improve message for ambiguous remote branch nameYoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget, Aug 27, 2026
  60. 3/4 worktree add: improve message for ambiguous remote branch nameYoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget, Aug 27, 2026
  61. 4/4 worktree add: treat multiple matches with --guess-remote as an errorYoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget, Aug 27, 2026
  62. Junio C HamanoAug 27, 2026

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