# [PATCH] git-symbolic-ref: fix error message when ref doesn't exist 3 messages from 2007-03-18 to 2007-03-19. Participants: Julian Phillips, Junio C Hamano. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/7287 ## Julian Phillips, 2007-03-18 01:53 Subject: [PATCH] git-symbolic-ref: fix error message when ref doesn't exist Message-ID: <20070318020645.2444.75365.julian@quantumfyre.co.uk> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/20070318020645.2444.75365.julian%40quantumfyre.co.uk ``` When calling resolve_ref from check_symref set reading to 1, since we do want to know if the given ref doesn't exist. This means that "git symbolic-ref foo" will now print "fatal: No such ref: foo" as expected. Signed-off-by: Julian Phillips --- While looking at how fetch worked, I noticed that symbolic-ref was supposed to differentiate between non-existent refs and non-symbolic refs. Something I hadn't noticed it doing on those occasions when my fingers had failed me ... I also noticed that the man page says that symbolic-ref will return 1 when the specified reference is non-symbolic. This is only true when using -q, but I don't know if the code or man page wants changing ... builtin-symbolic-ref.c | 2 +- 1 files changed, 1 insertions(+), 1 deletions(-) diff --git a/builtin-symbolic-ref.c b/builtin-symbolic-ref.c index d41b406..a93c85d 100644 --- a/builtin-symbolic-ref.c +++ b/builtin-symbolic-ref.c @@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ static void check_symref(const char *HEAD, int quiet) { unsigned char sha1[20]; int flag; - const char *refs_heads_master = resolve_ref(HEAD, sha1, 0, &flag); + const char *refs_heads_master = resolve_ref(HEAD, sha1, 1, &flag); if (!refs_heads_master) die("No such ref: %s", HEAD); -- 1.5.0.4 ``` ## Junio C Hamano, 2007-03-19 08:47 Subject: Re: [PATCH] git-symbolic-ref: fix error message when ref doesn't exist Message-ID: <7vslc1iprn.fsf@assigned-by-dhcp.cox.net> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/7vslc1iprn.fsf%40assigned-by-dhcp.cox.net In-Reply-To: <20070318020645.2444.75365.julian@quantumfyre.co.uk> ``` Julian Phillips writes: > When calling resolve_ref from check_symref set reading to 1, since we > do want to know if the given ref doesn't exist. This means that > "git symbolic-ref foo" will now print "fatal: No such ref: foo" as > expected. Hmmmm. That would break: $ rm -fr a; mkdir a; cd a $ git init-db $ git symbolic-ref HEAD refs/heads/master wouldn't it? We do want it not to fail and tell us that the commit we are going to create will be on refs/heads/master (i.e. "the master branch"). And the command errors out as expected when given a non-existent symbolic ref: $ git symbolic-ref no-such; echo $? fatal: ref no-such is not a symbolic ref 128 ``` ## Julian Phillips, 2007-03-19 09:03 Subject: Re: [PATCH] git-symbolic-ref: fix error message when ref doesn't exist Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/Pine.LNX.4.64.0703190857320.25879%40beast.quantumfyre.co.uk In-Reply-To: <7vslc1iprn.fsf@assigned-by-dhcp.cox.net> ``` On Mon, 19 Mar 2007, Junio C Hamano wrote: > Julian Phillips writes: > >> When calling resolve_ref from check_symref set reading to 1, since we >> do want to know if the given ref doesn't exist. This means that >> "git symbolic-ref foo" will now print "fatal: No such ref: foo" as >> expected. > > Hmmmm. That would break: > > $ rm -fr a; mkdir a; cd a > $ git init-db > $ git symbolic-ref HEAD > refs/heads/master > > wouldn't it? We do want it not to fail and tell us that the > commit we are going to create will be on refs/heads/master > (i.e. "the master branch"). Um .. yes ... as per the comment in refs.c ... :$ > > And the command errors out as expected when given a > non-existent symbolic ref: > > $ git symbolic-ref no-such; echo $? > fatal: ref no-such is not a symbolic ref > 128 > The thing is, that wasn't what I expected. From looking at the code for symbolic-ref I was expecting: $ git symbolic-ref no-such; echo $? fatal: No such ref: no-such 128 In particular, in quiet mode you will get a return of 1 - rather than 128, which would potentially lead you astray if you belived the man page ... -- Julian --- "Intelligence without character is a dangerous thing." -- G. Steinem ```