Re: [PATCH] describe: output tag's ref instead of embedded name

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Feb 18, 2020, 23:05 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqq4kvnijim.fsf@gitster-ct.c.googlers.com>
In-Reply-To: <20200218195402.GA21586@coredump.intra.peff.net>

Coming back to the original topic, ...

Show 5 quoted lines

> If a tag describes a commit, we currently output not the tag's ref but
> its embedded name. This means that when the tag is locally stored under
> a different name, the output given cannot be used to access the tag in
> any way. A warning is also emitted in this case, but the message is not
> very enlightening:

None of the above is wrong per-se, but the reason why we chose to use the real name of the tag in the tag object, while issuing a warning, was so that people can correct the mistake of storing an annotated tag A to a wrong refname Q. If "describe" gave a name based on refname Q, there is no incentive to correct the situation to use the right refname. The name that describes the commits relative to the real name of the A is *not* usable by design, until the refname is corrected (i.e. the tag is stored in the right place).

So I am not 100% confident that the original patch is a good idea.