threads / discuss / 27100

Symbolic 'references' in Git?

Subject: Symbolic 'references' in Git?

## tl;dr

7 messages between Apr 14, 2011 and Apr 15, 2011.

replies: 6people: 5as markdown or json

Chris Patti· Apr 14, 2011, 20:30 UTC · lore

Folks;

We want a way to have our Bamboo configuration utilize a symbol to refer to 'latest release' 'latest patch' etc. in Git, rather than having to go in and change the actual branch name every time we ship a release and create a new one.

We thought about using something like:

git symbolic-ref -m'new next-release branch build for Bamboo' next-release release-3.15

However, this symbolic ref is only local to one repository, and we want it to be global across all of Bamboo.

Rather than resorting to manually copying the symbolic ref file around, from repo to repo, is there any way to make such a symbolic 'variable' global?

Thanks! -Chris

-- 
Christopher Patti - Geek At Large | GTalk: cpatti@gmail.com | AIM:
chrisfeohpatti | P: (260) 54PATTI
"Technology challenges art, art inspires technology." - John Lasseter, Pixar

Wesley J. Landaker· Apr 14, 2011, 21:24 UTC · re: Chris Patti · lore

Re: Symbolic 'references' in Git?

On Thursday, April 14, 2011 14:30:59 Chris Patti wrote:

Show 16 quoted lines

> We want a way to have our Bamboo configuration utilize a symbol to
> refer to 'latest release' 'latest patch' etc. in Git, rather than
> having to go in and change the actual branch name every time we ship a
> release and create a new one.
> 
> We thought about using something like:
> 
> git symbolic-ref -m'new next-release branch build for Bamboo'
> next-release release-3.15
> 
> However, this symbolic ref is only local to one repository, and we
> want it to be global across all of Bamboo.
> 
> Rather than resorting to manually copying the symbolic ref file
> around, from repo to repo, is there any way to make such a symbolic
> 'variable' global?

Why not just use a tag or a branch ?

git tag -F next-release release-3.15

OR

git branch -D next-release git branch next-release release-3.15

(I personally think branches are nicer for this since tags are "supposed" to be immutable.)

Chris Patti· Apr 14, 2011, 21:31 UTC · re: Wesley J. Landaker · lore

Re: Symbolic 'references' in Git?

On Thu, Apr 14, 2011 at 5:24 PM, Wesley J. Landaker <wjl@icecavern.net> wrote:

Show 30 quoted lines

> On Thursday, April 14, 2011 14:30:59 Chris Patti wrote:
>> We want a way to have our Bamboo configuration utilize a symbol to
>> refer to 'latest release' 'latest patch' etc. in Git, rather than
>> having to go in and change the actual branch name every time we ship a
>> release and create a new one.
>>
>> We thought about using something like:
>>
>> git symbolic-ref -m'new next-release branch build for Bamboo'
>> next-release release-3.15
>>
>> However, this symbolic ref is only local to one repository, and we
>> want it to be global across all of Bamboo.
>>
>> Rather than resorting to manually copying the symbolic ref file
>> around, from repo to repo, is there any way to make such a symbolic
>> 'variable' global?
>
> Why not just use a tag or a branch ?
>
> git tag -F next-release release-3.15
>
>  OR
>
> git branch -D next-release
> git branch next-release release-3.15
>
> (I personally think branches are nicer for this since tags are "supposed" to
> be immutable.)
>

Won't either of those things create a 'next-release' that's frozen in time where the release-3.15 branch is *right now*?

This is for a CI system (Bamboo) so we need next-release to act as if we were using release-3.15 itself.

Thanks, -Chris

-- 
Christopher Patti - Geek At Large | GTalk: cpatti@gmail.com | AIM:
chrisfeohpatti | P: (260) 54PATTI
"Technology challenges art, art inspires technology." - John Lasseter, Pixar

Jeff King· Apr 14, 2011, 22:20 UTC · re: Chris Patti · lore

Re: Symbolic 'references' in Git?

On Thu, Apr 14, 2011 at 05:31:13PM -0400, Chris Patti wrote:

Show 23 quoted lines

> >> Rather than resorting to manually copying the symbolic ref file
> >> around, from repo to repo, is there any way to make such a symbolic
> >> 'variable' global?
> >
> > Why not just use a tag or a branch ?
> >
> > git tag -F next-release release-3.15
> >
> >  OR
> >
> > git branch -D next-release
> > git branch next-release release-3.15
> >
> > (I personally think branches are nicer for this since tags are "supposed" to
> > be immutable.)
> >
> 
> 
> Won't either of those things create a 'next-release' that's frozen in
> time where the release-3.15 branch is *right now*?
> 
> This is for a CI system (Bamboo) so we need next-release to act as if
> we were using release-3.15 itself.

Yeah, a regular ref won't work for that. A symbolic ref is definitely what you want, but their contents are not shared via the git-protocol. So no, they won't make it across clones, fetches, or pushes. We do some ugly magic to make HEAD work.

-Peff

Wesley J. Landaker· Apr 14, 2011, 22:22 UTC · re: Chris Patti · lore

Re: Symbolic 'references' in Git?

On Thursday, April 14, 2011 15:31:13 Chris Patti wrote:

> On Thu, Apr 14, 2011 at 5:24 PM, Wesley J. Landaker <wjl@icecavern.net>

wrote:

Show 7 quoted lines

> > Why not just use a tag or a branch ?
> 
> Won't either of those things create a 'next-release' that's frozen in
> time where the release-3.15 branch is *right now*?
> 
> This is for a CI system (Bamboo) so we need next-release to act as if
> we were using release-3.15 itself.

Yes, you are right, but I was thinking about how I usually see it done and do it in my projects is that "next-release" is what you always are working on, and "release-3.15" would only be made when 3.15 is finalized.

It sounds like you are doing it the other way around, in which case I agree that being able to easily share symbolic-refs would be solve the problem -- but I don't know how to do that, other than, say, a hook script that everyone uses.

Maybe someone else will chime in with a better solution? =)

Junio C Hamano· Apr 14, 2011, 23:00 UTC · re: Chris Patti · lore

Re: Symbolic 'references' in Git?

Chris Patti <cpatti@gmail.com> writes:

Show 8 quoted lines

>> git branch -D next-release
>> git branch next-release release-3.15
>>
>> (I personally think branches are nicer for this since tags are "supposed" to
>> be immutable.)
>
> Won't either of those things create a 'next-release' that's frozen in
> time where the release-3.15 branch is *right now*?

I suspect that most people go about this the other way around. You keep the next-release branch that goes forward, and your automated process would follow that one. When you really cut a release, you tag the tip of next-release, i.e. "git tag v3.15 next-release", to give it a name.

Michael J Gruber· Apr 15, 2011, 08:27 UTC · re: Chris Patti · lore

Re: Symbolic 'references' in Git?

Chris Patti venit, vidit, dixit 14.04.2011 23:31:

Show 38 quoted lines

> On Thu, Apr 14, 2011 at 5:24 PM, Wesley J. Landaker <wjl@icecavern.net> wrote:
>> On Thursday, April 14, 2011 14:30:59 Chris Patti wrote:
>>> We want a way to have our Bamboo configuration utilize a symbol to
>>> refer to 'latest release' 'latest patch' etc. in Git, rather than
>>> having to go in and change the actual branch name every time we ship a
>>> release and create a new one.
>>>
>>> We thought about using something like:
>>>
>>> git symbolic-ref -m'new next-release branch build for Bamboo'
>>> next-release release-3.15
>>>
>>> However, this symbolic ref is only local to one repository, and we
>>> want it to be global across all of Bamboo.
>>>
>>> Rather than resorting to manually copying the symbolic ref file
>>> around, from repo to repo, is there any way to make such a symbolic
>>> 'variable' global?
>>
>> Why not just use a tag or a branch ?
>>
>> git tag -F next-release release-3.15
>>
>>  OR
>>
>> git branch -D next-release
>> git branch next-release release-3.15
>>
>> (I personally think branches are nicer for this since tags are "supposed" to
>> be immutable.)
>>
> 
> 
> Won't either of those things create a 'next-release' that's frozen in
> time where the release-3.15 branch is *right now*?
> 
> This is for a CI system (Bamboo) so we need next-release to act as if
> we were using release-3.15 itself.

Maybe add a refspec

refs/heads/release-3.15:refs/heads/release

which ensures that you push that branch out under two names? When you (integrator/release manager) switch to a different release branch you just need to change your config (and probably push -f).

Michael