Re: [PATCH v6 1/6] setup: don't modify repo in `create_reference_database()`

> On Sat, Feb 14, 2026 at 11:34:14PM +0100, Karthik Nayak wrote:
>> The `create_reference_database()` function is used to create the
>> reference database during initialization of a repository. The function
>> calls `repo_set_ref_storage_format()` to set the repositories reference
>> format. This is an unexpected side-effect of the function. More so
>> because the function is only called in two locations:
>>
>>   1. During git-init(1) where the value is propagated from the `struct
>>      repository_format repo_fmt` value.
>>
>>   2. During git-clone(1) where the value is propagated from the
>>      `the_repository` value.
>>
>> The former is valid, however the flow already calls
>> `repo_set_ref_storage_format()`, so this effort is simply duplicated.
>> The latter sets the existing value in `the_repository` back to itself.
>> While this is okay for now, introduction of more fields in
>> `repo_set_ref_storage_format()` would cause issues, especially
>> dynamically allocated strings, where we would free/allocate the same
>> string back into `the_repostiory`.
>>
>> To avoid all this confusion, clean up the function to longer take in and
>
> s/longer/no &/, I assume?
>

>> diff --git a/builtin/clone.c b/builtin/clone.c
>> index b40cee5968..cd43bb5aa2 100644
>> --- a/builtin/clone.c
>> +++ b/builtin/clone.c
>> @@ -1442,7 +1442,7 @@ int cmd_clone(int argc,
>>  	hash_algo = hash_algo_by_ptr(transport_get_hash_algo(transport));
>>  	initialize_repository_version(hash_algo, the_repository->ref_storage_format, 1);
>>  	repo_set_hash_algo(the_repository, hash_algo);
>> -	create_reference_database(the_repository->ref_storage_format, NULL, 1);
>> +	create_reference_database(NULL, 1);
>>
>>  	/*
>>  	 * Before fetching from the remote, download and install bundle
>
> This is case (2), where we set the ref storage format to itself.
>
>> diff --git a/setup.c b/setup.c
>> index b723f8b339..1fc9ae3872 100644
>> --- a/setup.c
>> +++ b/setup.c
>> @@ -2701,8 +2699,7 @@ int init_db(const char *git_dir, const char *real_git_dir,
>>  				      &repo_fmt, init_shared_repository);
>>
>>  	if (!(flags & INIT_DB_SKIP_REFDB))
>> -		create_reference_database(repo_fmt.ref_storage_format,
>> -					  initial_branch, flags & INIT_DB_QUIET);
>> +		create_reference_database(initial_branch, flags & INIT_DB_QUIET);
>>  	create_object_directory();
>>
>>  	if (repo_settings_get_shared_repository(the_repository)) {
>
> And this is the second case. We call `repository_format_configure()` a
> few lines above, and that function calls `repo_set_ref_storage_format()`
> itself.
>
> Looks good to me, and a nice simplification. Thanks!
>
> Patrick