Re: Bug: Git sees branch as valid commit ref and works; should fail

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Aug 5, 2024, 16:35 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqqy15b2aiz.fsf@gitster.g>
In-Reply-To: <CAFb48S8LDz4kiWsKSCBn8J=AHyQ5SVPFH4GY=z+8=DntT=PyAw@mail.gmail.com>

Matt Thompson <fortran@gmail.com> writes:

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> Thank you for filling out a Git bug report!
> Please answer the following questions to help us understand your issue.
>
> What did you do before the bug happened? (Steps to reproduce your issue)
>
> $ git clone https://github.com/GEOS-ESM/GFDL_atmos_cubed_sphere.git fvdycore
> $ cd fvdycore
> $ git checkout bugfix/mathomp4/trivial-ci-commit-gcc14
>
> What did you expect to happen? (Expected behavior)
>
> I expected a failure as there is no branch named
> 'bugfix/mathomp4/trivial-ci-commit-gcc14' in the repository.

If you run

  $ git for-each-ref | grep /bugfix/mathomp4/trivial-ci-commit-gcc14

I suspect you have a remote-tracking branch that matches the pattern. In such a case, "bugfix/mathomp4/trivial-ci-commit-gcc14" is a very valid way to refer to a commit to any Git command. It is handy to say "git show bugfix/mathomp4/trivial-ci-commit-gcc14", for example.

And when "git checkout" is given a commit that is not a local branch, what it did below (by the way, thanks for giving a very accurate "Actual behavior" description in your report) is very much expected behaviour, including the part that it gave a message to advise how to work on a detached HEAD.

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> What happened instead? (Actual behavior)
>
> $ git checkout bugfix/mathomp4/trivial-ci-commit-gcc14
> Note: switching to 'bugfix/mathomp4/trivial-ci-commit-gcc14'.
> ...