git/list[1] front-page[2] threads[3] people[4] search[5] about
 

Re: [GIT BUG] show-ref doesn't work with Symbolic Refs other than HEAD

From
Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date
Dec 20, 2019, 20:21 UTC
Message-ID
<xmqqo8w2928s.fsf@gitster-ct.c.googlers.com>
In-Reply-To
<BF8A29F0-0572-49EA-9E3F-AC6964C6D8B0@strongestfamilies.com>
Casey Meijer <cmeijer@strongestfamilies.com> writes:
Show 15 quoted lines
> `git version 2.21.0`
>  
> Example
> ------------
>  
> `git symbolic-ref DEV refs/heads/dev`
> `git symbolic-ref DEV`
> `>> refs/heads/dev
> `git show-ref DEV`
> `>> [NO OUTPUT]`
>  
> Expected output
> ---------------------
>  
> `FULL_COMMIT_HASH refs/heads/dev`

What made you expect such an output? That may be caused by a documentation bug or two, which may well be worth fixing.

The show-ref command never resolves a symbolic ref to its pointee, and it only shows things under refs/ hierarchy.

And DEV is not special.
	git show-ref HEAD

would not show HEAD (i.e. the commit that is at the tip of the current branch), and it would show refs/remotes/origin/HEAD in a repository cloned from elsewhere but it does not say what other ref is pointed at (in other words, what the remote repository considered the primarily interesting branch).

Thanks.
Previous: Casey MeijerNext: Casey Meijer
Message 2 of 3 in “[GIT BUG] show-ref doesn't work with Symbolic Refs other than HEAD”
  1. Casey MeijerDec 20, 2019
  2. Junio C HamanoDec 20, 2019
  3. Casey MeijerDec 23, 2019

Read the whole thread, see it on lore, or plain text.

$ cat FOOTERMessages come from the public archive at lore.kernel.org/git, fetched every hour. The front page is chosen and written each morning by an AI editor and can be wrong; the threads themselves are the record. About and API. For agents: an MCP server at https://gitlist.dev/mcp, and any thread, story or person page as Markdown by adding .md to its URL (or sending Accept: text/markdown). Details in /llms.txt.