[PATCH 0/7] refs: remove use of `the_repository`

Hi,

this patch series refactors the ref subsystem to drop uses of
`the_repository`. These patches were part of a discarded attempt to
make the initialization of the refdb eager. I guess they make sense by
themselves though, so here we go.

Note that these patches contain a slight tangent to also adapt
"worktree.c". This is one of the subsystems that caused problems with
eager refdb initialization because of `has_worktrees()`, so I refactored
this subsystem while at it.

The series is built on top of f85a7e6620 (Start Git 2.56 cycle,
2026-07-06) with ps/refs-writing-subcommands at 002fe677ca
(builtin/refs: add "rename" subcommand, 2026-07-06) merged into it.
Despite that, there's a small set of conflicts with "seen" that can be
merged like this:

diff --cc lib/setup.c
index 505e8d7bf2,d31808130b..0000000000

--- a/lib/setup.c
+++ b/lib/setup.c

@@@ -2822,15 -2847,16 +2848,16 @@@ int init_db(struct repository *repo
  		if (!exist_ok && !stat(real_git_dir, &st))
  			die(_("%s already exists"), real_git_dir);
  
- 		set_git_dir(repo, real_git_dir, 1);
+ 		apply_and_export_relative_gitdir(repo, real_git_dir, 1);
  		git_dir = repo_get_git_dir(repo);
 -		separate_git_dir(git_dir, original_git_dir);
 +		separate_git_dir(repo, git_dir, original_git_dir);
- 	}
- 	else {
- 		set_git_dir(repo, git_dir, 1);
+ 	} else {
+ 		apply_and_export_relative_gitdir(repo, git_dir, 1);
  		git_dir = repo_get_git_dir(repo);
  	}
- 	startup_info->have_repository = 1;
+ 
+ 	if (worktree)
+ 		set_git_work_tree(repo, worktree);
  
  	/*
  	 * Check to see if the repository version is right.

diff --git a/lib/refs/files-backend.c b/lib/refs/files-backend.c
index f672059333..3ba1b4eac4 100644
--- a/lib/refs/files-backend.c
+++ b/lib/refs/files-backend.c

@@ -859,7 +859,7 @@ static enum ref_transaction_error lock_raw_ref(struct files_ref_store *refs,
 		} else {
 			unable_to_lock_message(ref_file.buf, myerr, err);
 			if (myerr == EEXIST) {
-				if (repo_ignore_case(the_repository) &&
+				if (repo_ignore_case(refs->base.repo) &&
 				    transaction_has_case_conflicting_update(transaction, update)) {
 					/*
 					 * In case-insensitive filesystems, ensure that conflicts within a

@@ -973,7 +973,7 @@ static enum ref_transaction_error lock_raw_ref(struct files_ref_store *refs,
 		 * conflicts between 'foo' and 'Foo/bar'. So let's lowercase
 		 * the refname.
 		 */
-		if (repo_ignore_case(the_repository)) {
+		if (repo_ignore_case(refs->base.repo)) {
 			struct strbuf lower = STRBUF_INIT;
 
 			strbuf_addstr(&lower, refname);

Thanks!

Patrick

---
Patrick Steinhardt (7):
      refs/packed: de-globalize handling of "core.packedRefsTimeout"
      refs/packed: drop `USE_THE_REPOSITORY_VARIABLE`
      refs/files: drop `USE_THE_REPOSITORY_VARIABLE`
      worktree: refactor code to use available repositories
      worktree: pass repository to file-local functions
      worktree: pass repository to public functions
      refs: remove remaining uses of `the_repository`

 branch.c                   |   6 +-
 builtin/branch.c           |  16 +++--
 builtin/check-ref-format.c |   2 +-
 builtin/checkout.c         |   2 +-
 builtin/config.c           |   2 +-
 builtin/fsck.c             |   6 +-
 builtin/gc.c               |   2 +-
 builtin/merge.c            |   2 +-
 builtin/notes.c            |   2 +-
 builtin/receive-pack.c     |   2 +-
 builtin/reflog.c           |   4 +-
 builtin/refs.c             |   2 +-
 builtin/worktree.c         |  32 +++++----
 reachable.c                |   4 +-
 ref-filter.c               |   2 +-
 refs.c                     |  23 +++----
 refs.h                     |   5 +-
 refs/files-backend.c       |  31 +++++----
 refs/packed-backend.c      |  18 +++--
 revision.c                 |   6 +-
 setup.c                    |   7 +-
 submodule.c                |   2 +-
 t/helper/test-ref-store.c  |   2 +-
 worktree.c                 | 166 +++++++++++++++++++++++++--------------------
 worktree.h                 |  27 +++++---
 25 files changed, 204 insertions(+), 169 deletions(-)


---
base-commit: f035246f779167db3506394141b59472d544af65
change-id: 20260618-pks-refs-wo-the-repository-7e43e29371ac