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[PATCH] tracking branches: add advice to ambiguous refspec error

From
Tao Klerks via GitGitGadget <gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
Date
Mar 21, 2022, 10:23 UTC
Message-ID
<pull.1183.git.1647858238144.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
From: Tao Klerks <tao@klerks.biz>

The error "not tracking: ambiguous information for ref" is raised when we are evaluating what tracking information to set on a branch, and find that the ref to be added as tracking branch is mapped under multiple remotes' fetch refspecs.

This can easily happen when a user copy-pastes a remote definition in their git config, and forgets to change the tracking path.

Add advice in this situation, explicitly highlighting which remotes are involved and suggesting how to correct the situation.

Signed-off-by: Tao Klerks <tao@klerks.biz>
---
    RFC: tracking branches: add advice to ambiguous refspec error
    
    I am submitting this as an RFC because of a couple of things I'm not
    sure about:
    
     1. In this proposed patch the advice is emitted before the existing
        die(), in order to avoid changing the exact error behavior and only
        add extra/new hint lines, but in other advise() calls I see the
        error being emitted before the advise() hint. Given that error() and
        die() display different message prefixes, I'm not sure whether it's
        possible to follow the existing pattern and avoid changing the error
        itself. Should I just accept that with the new advice, the error
        message can and should change?
     2. In order to include the names of the conflicting remotes I am
        calling advise() multiple times - this is not a pattern I see
        elsewhere - should I be building a single message and calling
        advise() only once?
Published-As: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/releases/tag/pr-1183%2FTaoK%2Fadvise-ambiguous-tracking-refspec-v1
Fetch-It-Via: git fetch https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git pr-1183/TaoK/advise-ambiguous-tracking-refspec-v1
Pull-Request: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/pull/1183
 advice.c |  1 +
 advice.h |  1 +
 branch.c | 27 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
 3 files changed, 28 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
diff --git a/advice.c b/advice.c
index 1dfc91d1767..686612590ec 100644
--- a/advice.c
+++ b/advice.c
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ static struct {
 	[ADVICE_ADD_EMPTY_PATHSPEC]			= { "addEmptyPathspec", 1 },
 	[ADVICE_ADD_IGNORED_FILE]			= { "addIgnoredFile", 1 },
 	[ADVICE_AM_WORK_DIR] 				= { "amWorkDir", 1 },
+	[ADVICE_AMBIGUOUS_FETCH_REFSPEC]		= { "ambiguousFetchRefspec", 1 },
 	[ADVICE_CHECKOUT_AMBIGUOUS_REMOTE_BRANCH_NAME] 	= { "checkoutAmbiguousRemoteBranchName", 1 },
 	[ADVICE_COMMIT_BEFORE_MERGE]			= { "commitBeforeMerge", 1 },
 	[ADVICE_DETACHED_HEAD]				= { "detachedHead", 1 },
diff --git a/advice.h b/advice.h
index 601265fd107..3d68c1a6cb4 100644
--- a/advice.h
+++ b/advice.h
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ struct string_list;
 	ADVICE_ADD_EMPTY_PATHSPEC,
 	ADVICE_ADD_IGNORED_FILE,
 	ADVICE_AM_WORK_DIR,
+	ADVICE_AMBIGUOUS_FETCH_REFSPEC,
 	ADVICE_CHECKOUT_AMBIGUOUS_REMOTE_BRANCH_NAME,
 	ADVICE_COMMIT_BEFORE_MERGE,
 	ADVICE_DETACHED_HEAD,
diff --git a/branch.c b/branch.c
index 5d20a2e8484..243f6d8b362 100644
--- a/branch.c
+++ b/branch.c
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 struct tracking {
 	struct refspec_item spec;
 	struct string_list *srcs;
+	struct string_list *remotes;
 	const char *remote;
 	int matches;
 };
@@ -28,6 +29,7 @@ static int find_tracked_branch(struct remote *remote, void *priv)
 			free(tracking->spec.src);
 			string_list_clear(tracking->srcs, 0);
 		}
+		string_list_append(tracking->remotes, remote->name);
 		tracking->spec.src = NULL;
 	}
 
@@ -217,6 +219,18 @@ static int inherit_tracking(struct tracking *tracking, const char *orig_ref)
 	return 0;
 }
 
+
+static const char ambiguous_refspec_advice_pre[] =
+N_("\n"
+"There are multiple remotes with fetch refspecs mapping to\n"
+"the tracking ref %s:\n";)
+static const char ambiguous_refspec_advice_post[] =
+N_("This is typically a configuration error.\n"
+"\n"
+"To support setting up tracking branches, ensure that\n"
+"different remotes' fetch refspecs map into different\n"
+"tracking namespaces.\n");
+
 /*
  * This is called when new_ref is branched off of orig_ref, and tries
  * to infer the settings for branch.<new_ref>.{remote,merge} from the
@@ -227,11 +241,14 @@ static void setup_tracking(const char *new_ref, const char *orig_ref,
 {
 	struct tracking tracking;
 	struct string_list tracking_srcs = STRING_LIST_INIT_DUP;
+	struct string_list tracking_remotes = STRING_LIST_INIT_DUP;
 	int config_flags = quiet ? 0 : BRANCH_CONFIG_VERBOSE;
+	struct string_list_item *item;
 
 	memset(&tracking, 0, sizeof(tracking));
 	tracking.spec.dst = (char *)orig_ref;
 	tracking.srcs = &tracking_srcs;
+	tracking.remotes = &tracking_remotes;
 	if (track != BRANCH_TRACK_INHERIT)
 		for_each_remote(find_tracked_branch, &tracking);
 	else if (inherit_tracking(&tracking, orig_ref))
@@ -248,9 +265,17 @@ static void setup_tracking(const char *new_ref, const char *orig_ref,
 			return;
 		}
 
-	if (tracking.matches > 1)
+	if (tracking.matches > 1) {
+		if (advice_enabled(ADVICE_AMBIGUOUS_FETCH_REFSPEC)) {
+			advise(_(ambiguous_refspec_advice_pre), orig_ref);
+			for_each_string_list_item(item, &tracking_remotes) {
+				advise("  %s", item->string);
+			}
+			advise(_(ambiguous_refspec_advice_post));
+		}
 		die(_("not tracking: ambiguous information for ref %s"),
 		    orig_ref);
+	}
 
 	if (tracking.srcs->nr < 1)
 		string_list_append(tracking.srcs, orig_ref);

base-commit: 4c53a8c20f8984adb226293a3ffd7b88c3f4ac1a

-- 
gitgitgadget
Next: Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
Message 1 of 36 in “tracking branches: add advice to ambiguous refspec error”
  1. tracking branches: add advice to ambiguous refspec errorTao Klerks via GitGitGadget, Mar 21, 2022
  2. Ævar Arnfjörð BjarmasonMar 21, 2022
  3. Tao KlerksMar 22, 2022
  4. RFC: tracking branches: add advice to ambiguous refspec errorTao Klerks via GitGitGadget, Mar 22, 2022
  5. Ævar Arnfjörð BjarmasonMar 22, 2022
  6. tracking branches: add advice to ambiguous refspec errorTao Klerks via GitGitGadget, Mar 28, 2022
  7. Junio C HamanoMar 28, 2022
  8. Glen ChooMar 28, 2022
  9. Junio C HamanoMar 28, 2022
  10. Tao KlerksMar 28, 2022
  11. Ævar Arnfjörð BjarmasonMar 28, 2022
  12. Junio C HamanoMar 28, 2022
  13. Junio C HamanoMar 28, 2022
  14. Tao KlerksMar 29, 2022
  15. tracking branches: add advice to ambiguous refspec errorTao Klerks via GitGitGadget, Mar 29, 2022
  16. Tao KlerksMar 29, 2022
  17. Junio C HamanoMar 29, 2022
  18. Tao KlerksMar 30, 2022
  19. tracking branches: add advice to ambiguous refspec errorTao Klerks via GitGitGadget, Mar 30, 2022
  20. Ævar Arnfjörð BjarmasonMar 30, 2022
  21. Tao KlerksMar 30, 2022
  22. Tao KlerksMar 30, 2022
  23. Ævar Arnfjörð BjarmasonMar 30, 2022
  24. Junio C HamanoMar 30, 2022
  25. Ævar Arnfjörð BjarmasonMar 30, 2022
  26. Junio C HamanoMar 30, 2022
  27. Ævar Arnfjörð BjarmasonMar 30, 2022
  28. tracking branches: add advice to ambiguous refspec errorTao Klerks via GitGitGadget, Mar 31, 2022
  29. Junio C HamanoMar 31, 2022
  30. Glen ChooMar 31, 2022
  31. Tao KlerksApr 1, 2022
  32. Glen ChooApr 1, 2022
  33. Junio C HamanoMar 31, 2022
  34. tracking branches: add advice to ambiguous refspec errorTao Klerks via GitGitGadget, Apr 1, 2022
  35. Glen ChooApr 1, 2022
  36. Junio C HamanoApr 1, 2022

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