Minor Bug in git cat-file (git 2.50)?

(Sorry if you see this more than once)

I'm using 'git cat-file' to show the example. This is probably not a command-specific problem.

The problem is that using a deliberately ambiguous object ID produces surprising output. This is a minor issue.

% git --version git version 2.50.GIT % uname -a Linux fedora 6.15.9-201.fc42.x86_64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Sat Aug 2 11:37:34 UTC 2025 x86_64 GNU/Linux

% git init

# depending on where you run the test, might not be necessary % git config --global --add safe.directory /tmp

Initialized empty Git repository in /tmp/.git/ % echo a > a.txt % git add a.txt % git ls-files -s 100644 78981922613b2afb6025042ff6bd878ac1994e85 0 a.txt % git cat-file -t 78981922613b2afb6025042ff6bd878ac1994e85 blob

# All is well so far.

% pushd .git/objects/78 % ls 981922613b2afb6025042ff6bd878ac1994e85 # create a new file with the same name as the file that already exists, # except change the final letter to something else. % cp 981922613b2afb6025042ff6bd878ac1994e85 981922613b2afb6025042ff6bd878ac1994e86 % ls 981922613b2afb6025042ff6bd878ac1994e85 981922613b2afb6025042ff6bd878ac1994e86 % popd # use an ambiguous SHA1 prefix # why does the next command produce two identical hints, both of which # are incorrect? % git cat-file -t 78981922613b2afb6025042ff6bd878ac1994e8 error: short object ID 78981922613b2afb6025042ff6bd878ac1994e8 is ambiguous # this is correct hint: The candidates are: hint: 7898192 blob hint: 7898192 blob fatal: Not a valid object name 78981922613b2afb6025042ff6bd878ac1994e8 # I would have expected: hint: 78981922613b2afb6025042ff6bd878ac1994e85 blob hint: 78981922613b2afb6025042ff6bd878ac1994e86 blob # using the supplied hint doesn't work, which is no surprise % git cat-file -t 7898192 fatal: Not a valid object name 7898192

Cordially, Jon Forrest