create reflog for reflog-less ref
- From
Chris Jerdonek <chris.jerdonek@gmail.com>
- Date
- Feb 26, 2020, 01:07 UTC
- Message-ID
- <CAOTb1wc2uMSyc7DMau2cWrWtk=_Z94+CCovORj1dGCrwgJhL=w@mail.gmail.com>
Hi,
I wanted to ask on this list if there are any supported ways to create a reflog for an existing ref that doesn't already have a reflog.
This is more likely to come up for refs not in the standard set (i.e. HEAD, branches and remote-tracking branches), since reflogs aren't created by default for those refs.
The only workaround I could think of is using git-update-ref to delete the ref, and then immediately recreate it using the `--create-reflog` option (if that option is needed), e.g.:
$ git update-ref -d refs/foo/bar $ git update-ref -m "my message" --create-reflog refs/foo/bar <SHA>
This seems hacky though because it forces you to pass through a state where the ref no longer exists. It also requires you to get the ref's SHA first.
This Stack Overflow reply from 2016 suggests the idea of using `git update-ref -m MSG REF REF` to add lines to an existing reflog: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/36770141/can-i-add-a-line-to-the-reflog/36778898#36778898 But it doesn't seem to work to create a reflog (and only seemed to work for me in limited circumstances otherwise, like adding to HEAD's reflog). (I tried with version 2.25.0.)
Any thoughts?
Thanks, --Chris