Re: [PATCH] git fetch one tag only

Junio C Hamano [off-list ref] writes:

It is a separate matter if we should add some special case to further
reduce the cases where auto-following happens. I personally do not
think any change is needed.

I do not care too deeply either way, but after doing

	$ git init blank && cd blank

and in an empty repository:

        $ git fetch $over_there v1.0.0

will grab the named tag and drop it in FETCH_HEAD, without adding
anything to your local refs, while

	$ git fetch $over_there tag v1.0.0

will grab the named tag and copy it to your refs/tags/v1.0.0, and
auto-follow all the tags that point at commits that are reachable.

To grab and store _only_ v1.0.0 in the local refs, you need to say
"do not auto-follow" with

	$ git fetch $over_there --no-tags tag v1.0.0

While it may be workable, the user experience could be better in a
couple of different ways.

 * It is not fair to expect anybody to guess that "--no-tags" means
   "--no-auto-follow-tags" without reading documentation.

	$ git fetch $over_there --no-auto-follow-tags tag v1.0.0

   might be an improvement, but of course, it is a bit longer to
   spell ;-).

 * The auto-follow kicks in whenever you tell "fetch" to update some
   refs locally.  Maybe if we tweak the rule and auto-follow kick in
   only when you tell "fetch" to update some refs outside refs/tags
   locally,

	$ git fetch $over_there tag v1.0.0

   will fetch and store _only_ the v1.0.0 tag.

   Of course, any behaviour change is a regression, and if done
   without an escape hatch, such a change robs people one useful
   feature: grab tag v1.0.0 and others older than that tag in one
   go.

I won't be coding any of the above; just thinking aloud.