Re: Merge commit says refs/heads/<branchname> instead of <branchname>

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Nov 13, 2019, 07:12 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqq8sokb673.fsf@gitster-ct.c.googlers.com>
In-Reply-To: <20191113051530.GA3547@sigill.intra.peff.net>

Jeff King <peff@peff.net> writes:

Show 13 quoted lines

> If I do:
>
>   git reset --hard tip && git merge --no-edit refs/heads/side
>   git log -1 --oneline
>
> then I get:
>
>   Merge branch 'refs/heads/side'
>
> And the behavior seems the same going back to older versions of Git. Are
> you sure your workflow hasn't changed somehow?
>
> Can you show an example that triggers the behavior for you?

Yes, I am curious, too.

Show 7 quoted lines

>> I'm failing to find in the docs what drives that change, what
>> configuration option controls such (default?) message.
>> 
>> What may be the reason of that change?
>
> I think any change there would probably be unintentional (but it's hard
> to say for sure without tracking it down).

If older versions of git produced "Merge branch 'side'" when told to merge 'refs/heads/side', I could sort-of believe it. And if we no longer do so and instead record "Merge branch 'refs/heads/side'", then I actually think that is a desirable change.

By the way, pulling from self follows slightly different rule, i.e.

	$ git pull . refs/heads/side

would likely give you "Merge branch 'side'".