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