Re: [PATCH v6 3/3] worktree add: improve message for ambiguous remote branch name
- From
Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
- Date
- Aug 21, 2026, 03:54 UTC
- Message-ID
- <xmqqa4qgruvj.fsf@gitster.g>
- In-Reply-To
- <dcb84a69a6a65085d468a0a212cea0281605c5d0.1787259838.git.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
"Yoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget" <gitgitgadget@gmail.com> writes:
Show 39 quoted lines
> From: Yoichi NAKAYAMA <yoichi.nakayama@gmail.com>
>
> When the user runs 'git worktree add ../foo-dir bar-topic' command
> that does not exactly say which remote they want to work with, and
> there is no local branch named bar-topic, we try to guess which remote
> by passing bar-topic then create a new branch named bar-topic which
> tracks the remote branch.
>
> If there are multiple remotes that have branch named bar-topic, we
> silently gave up, leaving the variable 'branch' intact. Then we
> entered the conditional clause 'if (!opts.orphan &&
> !lookup_commit_reference_by_name(branch))' and triggered "invalid
> reference" error. This error message did not contain enough
> information to resolve the issue where the remote could not be
> guessed.
>
> To improve the situation, we display a hint and a descriptive error
> message and die immediately when multiple matching branches are found.
>
> Signed-off-by: Yoichi NAKAYAMA <yoichi.nakayama@gmail.com>
> ---
> builtin/worktree.c | 35 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
> t/t2400-worktree-add.sh | 4 ++--
> 2 files changed, 35 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/builtin/worktree.c b/builtin/worktree.c
> index 22c8e5e131..8286c283e0 100644
> --- a/builtin/worktree.c
> +++ b/builtin/worktree.c
> @@ -788,6 +788,25 @@ static char *dwim_branch(const char *path, char **new_branch)
> return NULL;
> }
>
> +static void advise_disambiguating_remotes(const char *path, const char *branch,
> + const struct string_list *matched_remote_names)
> +{
> + struct string_list_item *item;
> +
> + advise(_("Branches with the same name appears in multiple remotes:"));The subject "Branches" calls for plural verb "appear" (not "appears"). The same issue appears in [PATCH 2/3].
Show 21 quoted lines
> if (!commit) {
> - remote = unique_tracking_name(branch, &oid, NULL, NULL);
> + char *remote;
> + int num_matches = 0;
> + struct string_list matched_remote_names = STRING_LIST_INIT_DUP;
> +
> + remote = unique_tracking_name(branch, &oid, &num_matches,
> + &matched_remote_names);
> if (remote) {
> new_branch = branch;
> branch = new_branch_to_free = remote;
> + } else if (num_matches > 1) {
> + if (!opts.quiet &&
> + advice_enabled(ADVICE_CHECKOUT_AMBIGUOUS_REMOTE_BRANCH_NAME))
> + advise_disambiguating_remotes(path, branch,
> + &matched_remote_names);
> + die(_("'%s' matched multiple (%d) remote tracking branches"),
> + branch, num_matches);
> }
> + string_list_clear(&matched_remote_names, 0);
> }This appears inside "} else if (ac == 2) {" to catch an invocation like
git worktree add ../over-there topic-branch
where the origin of topic-branch is ambiguous (in other words, appears in multiple remotes). But don't we have the same issue for 1 argument case that appears just above this (ac == 2) case that handles
git worktree add ../topic-branch
invocation? The code reads like:
} else if (ac < 2) {
/* DWIM: Guess branch name from path. */
char *s = dwim_branch(path, &new_branch_to_free);
if (s)
branch = branch_to_free = s;
new_branch = new_branch_to_free; /* DWIM: Infer --orphan when repo has no refs. */
opts.orphan = (!s) && dwim_orphan(&opts, !!opt_track, 1);
} else if (ac == 2) {where the branch name "topic-branch" is guessed from the path by calling dwim_branch(), and we would get NULL in s. branch is left as-is, so it becomes "HEAD" that was assigned much earlier in the same function.
branch = ac < 2 ? "HEAD" : av[1];
We would create a new directory in ../topic-branch next door, and then which branch would we check out? Would dwim_orphan() kick in?
Perhaps we want to update that code path to disambiguate the same way?
Show 19 quoted lines
> diff --git a/t/t2400-worktree-add.sh b/t/t2400-worktree-add.sh > index 87b926728a..5c105cf252 100755 > --- a/t/t2400-worktree-add.sh > +++ b/t/t2400-worktree-add.sh > @@ -624,12 +624,12 @@ test_expect_success '"add" <path> <branch> dwims' ' > test_expect_success '"add" <path> <branch> dwims with checkout.defaultRemote' ' > test_when_finished rm -rf repo_upstream repo_dwim foo && > setup_remote_repo repo_upstream repo_dwim && > - git init repo_dwim && > ( > cd repo_dwim && > git remote add repo_upstream2 ../repo_upstream && > git fetch repo_upstream2 && > - test_must_fail git worktree add ../foo foo && > + test_must_fail git worktree add ../foo foo 2>error.actual && > + test_grep "matched multiple (2) remote tracking branches" error.actual && > git -c checkout.defaultRemote=repo_upstream worktree add ../foo foo && > git status -uno --porcelain >status.actual && > test_must_be_empty status.actual