Re: [PATCH 1/7] check_ref_format(): tighten refname rules

Johannes Schindelin [off-list ref] writes:

On Sat, 21 Mar 2009, Junio C Hamano wrote:

quoted

Yes, I know that tightening rules retroactively is bad, but this changes 
the rules for refnames to forbid:

Tightening rules retroactively is not only bad (if sometimes necessary), 
but tightening rules without giving the user a chance to recover is really 
bad.

'git branch -m' uses check_ref_format() to check the old name.

Because "git branch -d" still allows a malformed funny branch to be
removed with this patch, I would say it is Ok as long as release notes
clearly says what we are tightening the rule for.

It is very probable that some people may have "master@{24}" in their
repositories, but such a branch cannot be accessed with or without this
patch anyway, and it is unlikely they created it because they wanted to.

"git branch wtf-dot wtf." followed by "git branch -d wtf." also works; for
this one, it might make sense to allow "git branch -m" to rename it, but
I do not think it is worth it.