Re: [PATCH 3/7] remote-curl: rediscover repository when fetching refs

> Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im> writes:
> 
> > We're about to change git-clone(1) so that we set up the reference
> > database at a later point. This change will cause git-remote-curl(1) to
> > not detect the repository anymore due to "HEAD" not having been created
> > yet at the time it spawns, and thus causes it to error out once it is
> > asked to fetch the references.
> >
> > We can address this issue by trying to re-discover the Git repository in
> > case none was detected at startup time. With this change, the clone will
> > look as following:
> >
> >   1. git-clone(1) sets up the initial repository, excluding the
> >      reference database.
> >
> >   2. git-clone(1) spawns git-remote-curl(1), which will be unable to
> >      detect the repository due to a missing "HEAD".
> >
> >   3. git-clone(1) asks git-remote-curl(1) to list remote references.
> >      This works just fine as this step does not require a local
> >      repository
> >
> >   4. git-clone(1) creates the reference database as it has now learned
> >      about the object format.
> 
> Sorry, but I am not sure I understand this step.  I assume you mean
> by "the object format" what hash function is used to index the
> objects (which can be learned from the remote "origin" in step 2 and
> we can choose to use the one they use), not what ref backend is used
> (which is purely a local matter and we do not need to know what is
> used at the "origin").