On Tue, Aug 15, 2017 at 1:09 PM, Igor Djordjevic <igor.d.djordjevic@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Hi Jason, > > On 15/08/2017 16:26, Jason Karns wrote: >> I have a git repo that shows a different branch in >> `.git/refs/remotes/origin/HEAD` than is reported by `git remote show >> origin`. >> >> The branch is `github-rename` in refs/remotes/origin/HEAD, but shows >> `master` in output of git-remote-show >> >> ``` >> $ cat .git/refs/remotes/origin/HEAD >> ref: refs/remotes/origin/github-rename >> >> $ git remote show origin >> * remote origin >> Fetch URL: git@xxxxxxxx >> Push URL: git@xxxxxxxx >> HEAD branch: master >> Remote branches: >> github-rename tracked >> master tracked >> qa tracked >> refactor-test tracked >> Local branches configured for 'git pull': >> github-rename merges with remote github-rename >> master merges with remote master >> Local refs configured for 'git push': >> github-rename pushes to github-rename (up to date) >> master pushes to master (up to date) >> ``` >> >> git version 2.14.1 >> >> >> Background: >> >> Prior to my repo being cloned, the default branch was configured to be >> `some-random-branch` on github. My repo was cloned and the HEAD branch >> was set to `some-random-branch` correctly (in `refs/`). However, >> git-remote-show reported `master` as the HEAD branch. >> >> Later, `some-random-branch` was deleted from the remote. It _remained_ >> as the HEAD branch locally according to `refs/`. >> >> In order to test the remote-show command, I changed the HEAD branch to >> a branch that actually existed by running `git remote set-head origin >> github-rename`. It changed the HEAD branch in `refs/` but remote-show >> continues to report `master` as the remote's HEAD. > > I am no expert here, but reading the docs, it seems like you may have > wrong expectations. > > Documentation for "git remote set-head"[1] explains that this command > is used to set default remote branch (locally), where later you can > use remote name only to specify that specific (remote) branch instead. > > Example shows that for remote named "origin", if you set default > branch name to "master" (actually being "origin/master" locally), > then whenever you want to type "origin/master", you can type "origin" > only instead (set default branch name is implied). > > For the given example, that is what you can see inside > "refs/remotes/origin/HEAD", being set to "refs/remotes/origin/master". > > So it is something _you_ set _locally_ to aid you in working with the > remote repository. Cool, this is all to my expectations. > > On the other hand, what "git remote show" outputs for HEAD is a name > of actually checked-out branch inside that remote repository - it`s > what`s stored inside HEAD file of the remote repository root. > > So it is something set on the _remote_ end, you can`t influence it > from your local repository. So _this_ is not what I expected. Thanks for clarifying. Considering that a fresh clone replicates the remote's default branch as the local default for that remote, I wager (in the majority of cases) that these two are the same. It would seem that what I would like in this case is a feature change to git-remote-show to show both the locally-configured and remote-configured defaults for the given remote (similar in spirit to how git-remote-show already shows local vs remote information: branches and their configurations for push/pull). Such a feature would be the "read" side of the remote set-head command, and also be useful for highlighting cases where the local and remote defaults do not match. If I might suggest adding "Local default branch: xxx" to the remote-show output, following the HEAD branch output. (Perhaps, printing "(not set)" if the default isn't configured locally.) ```` $ git remote show origin | head * remote origin Fetch URL: git@XXXX Push URL: git@XXXX HEAD branch: develop Local default branch: foo Remote branches: ``` Or perhaps adding a line at the bottom with the other local refs. That would allow additional notices when/if the local and remote defaults differ. > > What you _could_ do in your specific case, as you mention using > GitHub, is following their help page for "setting the default > branch"[2] for your GitHub repository (which you track locally as > "origin") to "github-rename". > > (in general, non-GitHub repository case, one could usually run there > either `git checkout github-rename`, if it`s not a bare repository, > or `git symbolic-ref HEAD refs/heads/github-rename`, if it`s a bare > repository) > > Afterwards, running `git remote show origin` inside your local > repository should output "github-rename" as HEAD value, as desired. > In my case, the github configuration is correct, and the set-head command was only used to test the output of git-remote-show. The crux of my misunderstanding is that I thought git-remote-show should be reporting the contents of `refs/remotes/origin/HEAD`. Having that information reported somehow (preferably through git-remote-show) would have clarified this for me. > p.s. To set your default remote branch locally to checked-out branch > on the remote end automatically, you can use `git remote set-head > origin --auto`, as documented[1]. It will inspect what`s inside > "HEAD" of the remote named "origin", and update your local > "refs/remotes/origin/HEAD" accordingly. > > [1] https://git-scm.com/docs/git-remote#git-remote-emset-headem > [2] https://help.github.com/articles/setting-the-default-branch/ > > Regards, > Buga Thanks for clarifying. Having this information surfaced a bit would be a nice improvement, IMO. Jason
