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

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Sep 23, 2026, 19:50 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqqbj9nagt2.fsf@gitster.g>
In-Reply-To: <CALnO6CA2DXvyOO+fu04sozg2=E0JoymAqyhs_heHzExgRSEzVw@mail.gmail.com>

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

Show 5 quoted lines

>>     $ git fetch second main:refs/remotes/second/main
>
> I've wanted something similar for notes, so allow me to interject from
> the sidelines: it would be even nicer to still have the ability to map
> fetches (so that "git fetch second main" did the right thing, creating

The thing is, the command line

    $ git fetch second main

has been used for the past 20 years as a "single-shot fetch" syntax that expresses that the user does not intend to keep interacting with the same 'main' branch or even the same 'second' repository, and for the "single-shot fetch", it is absolutely the wrong thing to create a remote-tracking branch.

It would be even worse if we created a remote 'second' and remote-tracking branch 'refs/remotes/second/main' when you ran

    $ git fetch https://ho.st/second main

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".