Re: [PATCH] Clarify that '--tags' fetches tags only

From: Michael Witten <mfwitten@gmail.com>
Date: Oct 1, 2011, 20:56 UTC
Message-ID: <CAMOZ1BsYYmH6hqcB4vfCq2LAu+fxJ4MzPQ1+-erUSqU1ptx2mQ@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <loom.20111001T214551-834@post.gmane.org>

On Sat, Oct 1, 2011 at 20:22, Peter Shenkin <shenkin@gmail.com> wrote:

Show 5 quoted lines

>
> The question is not how the --tags option should be
> documented, but rather why "--tags" should behave
> differently when the refspec is given on the commandline
> than when the refspec is given in the .git/config file.

Again, see here:

 [PATCH v3] Docs: Clarify the --tags option of `git fetch'
 Message-ID: <686c38876d5a4ad6bfac67ca77fe9bb3-mfwitten@gmail.com>
 http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/181887

namely:

    This option is merely a shorthand for writing the refspec
    `refs/tags/\*:refs/tags/\*'; that is,

            git fetch origin --tags
            git fetch origin --tags frotz

    are equivalent to:

            git fetch origin 'refs/tags/*:refs/tags/*'
            git fetch origin frotz 'refs/tags/*:refs/tags/*'

In other words, by writing "--tags", you are actually writing "refs/tags/\*:refs/tags/\*"; because you are stating an *explicit* refspec, "git fetch" doesn't bother with any *implicit* default in your config, which is consistent with how "git fetch" works.

It would probably be a good idea if there were a "--defaults", too.