Re: [PATCH] fetch: add config to avoid fetching every branch in shallow repo

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Sep 24, 2026, 18:02 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqqa4p634tx.fsf@gitster.g>
In-Reply-To: <CALnO6CA5b7mpia9tkiOENdOKcOHF4errc31wuF5n5-=rrbHxVw@mail.gmail.com>

"D. Ben Knoble" <ben.knoble@gmail.com> writes:

Show 18 quoted lines

>> Having said that, I suspect that the fact that you have the
>> shorthand 'second' (i.e., you have "[remote "second"] url = ..."
>> defined) may be a good enough sign that you expect to keep
>> interacting with that repository, and some people might appreciate
>> it if
>>
>>     $ git fetch second main
>>
>> created a remote-tracking branch "refs/remotes/second/main"
>> automatically.
>>
>> But we cannot suddenly start doing so without breaking people's
>> expectations, and without a good transition plan.  We need at least
>> an escape hatch for users to say "No, this is a single-shot fetch;
>> do not write the object anywhere other than FETCH_HEAD as we have
>> always done".
>
> So anyway, I think fetch.<remote>.refmap is the right thing here, thanks!

Ahh, yes, if we introduce fetch.second.refmap that makes it pretend as if you gave a --refmap argument on the command line, your

	$ git fetch second main

will automatically do what you want it to do. I didn't realize that it was the implication of what I was outlining while preparing the response to Harald ;-)

Thanks.