[PATCH v9 3/4] worktree add: improve message for ambiguous remote branch name
From: Yoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget <hidden>
Date: 2026-08-26 10:45:24
Subsystem:
the rest · Maintainer:
Linus Torvalds
From: Yoichi NAKAYAMA <redacted> When the user runs 'git worktree add ../foo-dir bar-topic' without specifying a remote, and there is no local branch named bar-topic, we try to guess which remote branch bar-topic refers to, then create a new branch named bar-topic that tracks the remote branch. If multiple remotes have a branch named bar-topic, we silently gave up, leaving the variable 'branch' intact. We then entered the conditional clause 'if (!opts.orphan && !lookup_commit_reference_by_name(branch))' and triggered an "invalid reference" error. This error message did not provide enough information to resolve the ambiguity. When multiple matching branches are found, display a hint and a descriptive error message and die immediately. Signed-off-by: Yoichi NAKAYAMA <redacted> --- builtin/worktree.c | 37 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--- t/t2400-worktree-add.sh | 4 ++-- 2 files changed, 36 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
diff --git a/builtin/worktree.c b/builtin/worktree.c
index 22c8e5e131..c745deddde 100644
--- a/builtin/worktree.c
+++ b/builtin/worktree.c@@ -764,6 +764,25 @@ static int dwim_orphan(const struct add_opts *opts, int opt_track, int remote) return 1; } +static void advise_disambiguating_remotes(const char *path, const char *branch, + const struct string_list *matched_remote_names) +{ + struct string_list_item *item; + + advise(_("Branch name '%s' appears in multiple remotes:"), branch); + for_each_string_list_item(item, matched_remote_names) { + advise(_(" %s"), item->string); + } + advise(_("If you meant to create a worktree from a remote tracking branch on\n" + "<remote>, you can do so by:\n" + "\n" + " git worktree add -b %s %s <remote>/%s\n" + "\n" + "If you'd like to always prefer some remote, e.g. 'origin',\n" + "consider setting checkout.defaultRemote=origin in your config."), + branch, path, branch); +} + static char *dwim_branch(const char *path, char **new_branch) { int n;
@@ -898,17 +917,29 @@ static int add(int ac, const char **av, const char *prefix, /* DWIM: Infer --orphan when repo has no refs. */ opts.orphan = (!s) && dwim_orphan(&opts, !!opt_track, 1); } else if (ac == 2) { - struct object_id oid; struct commit *commit; - char *remote; commit = lookup_commit_reference_by_name(branch); if (!commit) { - remote = unique_tracking_name(branch, &oid, NULL, NULL); + struct object_id oid; + char *remote; + int num_matches = 0; + struct string_list matched_remote_names = STRING_LIST_INIT_DUP; + + remote = unique_tracking_name(branch, &oid, &num_matches, + &matched_remote_names); if (remote) { new_branch = branch; branch = new_branch_to_free = remote; + } else if (num_matches > 1) { + if (!opts.quiet && + advice_enabled(ADVICE_CHECKOUT_AMBIGUOUS_REMOTE_BRANCH_NAME)) + advise_disambiguating_remotes(path, branch, + &matched_remote_names); + die(_("'%s' matched multiple (%d) remote tracking branches"), + branch, num_matches); } + string_list_clear(&matched_remote_names, 0); } if (!strcmp(branch, "HEAD"))
diff --git a/t/t2400-worktree-add.sh b/t/t2400-worktree-add.sh
index 87b926728a..5c105cf252 100755
--- a/t/t2400-worktree-add.sh
+++ b/t/t2400-worktree-add.sh@@ -624,12 +624,12 @@ test_expect_success '"add" <path> <branch> dwims' ' test_expect_success '"add" <path> <branch> dwims with checkout.defaultRemote' ' test_when_finished rm -rf repo_upstream repo_dwim foo && setup_remote_repo repo_upstream repo_dwim && - git init repo_dwim && ( cd repo_dwim && git remote add repo_upstream2 ../repo_upstream && git fetch repo_upstream2 && - test_must_fail git worktree add ../foo foo && + test_must_fail git worktree add ../foo foo 2>error.actual && + test_grep "matched multiple (2) remote tracking branches" error.actual && git -c checkout.defaultRemote=repo_upstream worktree add ../foo foo && git status -uno --porcelain >status.actual && test_must_be_empty status.actual
--
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