git/setup.c, branch main

Merge branch 'ty/setup-error-tightening'

2026-03-16T17:48:14Z

While discovering a ".git" directory, the code treats any stat() failure as a sign that a filesystem entity .git does not exist there, and ignores ".git" that is not a "gitdir" file or a directory. The code has been tightened to notice and report filesystem corruption better. * ty/setup-error-tightening: setup: improve error diagnosis for invalid .git files

Merge branch 'kn/ref-location'

2026-03-04T18:52:59Z

Allow the directory in which reference backends store their data to be specified. * kn/ref-location: refs: add GIT_REFERENCE_BACKEND to specify reference backend refs: allow reference location in refstorage config refs: receive and use the reference storage payload refs: move out stub modification to generic layer refs: extract out `refs_create_refdir_stubs()` setup: don't modify repo in `create_reference_database()`

setup: improve error diagnosis for invalid .git files

2026-03-04T17:23:48Z

'read_gitfile_gently()' treats any non-regular file as 'READ_GITFILE_ERR_NOT_A_FILE' and fails to discern between 'ENOENT' and other stat failures. This flawed error reporting is noted by two 'NEEDSWORK' comments. Address these comments by introducing two new error codes: 'READ_GITFILE_ERR_MISSING'(which groups the "file missing" scenarios together) and 'READ_GITFILE_ERR_IS_A_DIR': 1. Update 'read_gitfile_error_die()' to treat 'IS_A_DIR', 'MISSING', 'NOT_A_FILE' and 'STAT_FAILED' as non-fatal no-ops. This accommodates intentional non-repo scenarios (e.g., GIT_DIR=/dev/null). 2. Explicitly catch 'NOT_A_FILE' and 'STAT_FAILED' during discovery and call 'die()' if 'die_on_error' is set. 3. Unconditionally pass '&error_code' to 'read_gitfile_gently()'. 4. Only invoke 'is_git_directory()' when we explicitly receive 'READ_GITFILE_ERR_IS_A_DIR', avoiding redundant checks. Additionally, audit external callers of 'read_gitfile_gently()' in 'submodule.c' and 'worktree.c' to accommodate the refined error codes. Signed-off-by: Tian Yuchen Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano

refs: add GIT_REFERENCE_BACKEND to specify reference backend

2026-02-25T17:40:00Z

Git allows setting a different object directory via 'GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY', but provides no equivalent for references. In the previous commit we extended the 'extensions.refStorage' config to also support an URI input for reference backend with location. Let's also add a new environment variable 'GIT_REFERENCE_BACKEND' that takes in the same input as the config variable. Having an environment variable allows us to modify the reference backend and location on the fly for individual Git commands. The environment variable also allows usage of alternate reference directories during 'git-clone(1)' and 'git-init(1)'. Add the config to the repository when created with the environment variable set. When initializing the repository with an alternate reference folder, create the required stubs in the repositories $GIT_DIR. The inverse, i.e. removal of the ref store doesn't clean up the stubs in the $GIT_DIR since that would render it unusable. Removal of ref store is only used when migrating between ref formats and cleanup of the $GIT_DIR doesn't make sense in such a situation. Helped-by: Jean-Noël Avila Signed-off-by: Karthik Nayak Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano

refs: allow reference location in refstorage config

2026-02-25T17:38:41Z

The 'extensions.refStorage' config is used to specify the reference backend for a given repository. Both the 'files' and 'reftable' backends utilize the $GIT_DIR as the reference folder by default in `get_main_ref_store()`. Since the reference backends are pluggable, this means that they could work with out-of-tree reference directories too. Extend the 'refStorage' config to also support taking an URI input, where users can specify the reference backend and the location. Add the required changes to obtain and propagate this value to the individual backends. Add the necessary documentation and tests. Traditionally, for linked worktrees, references were stored in the '$GIT_DIR/worktrees/' path. But when using an alternate reference storage path, it doesn't make sense to store the main worktree references in the new path, and the linked worktree references in the $GIT_DIR. So, let's store linked worktree references in '$ALTERNATE_REFERENCE_DIR/worktrees/'. To do this, create the necessary files and folders while also adding stubs in the $GIT_DIR path to ensure that it is still considered a Git directory. Ideally, we would want to pass in a `struct worktree *` to individual backends, instead of passing the `gitdir`. This allows them to handle worktree specific logic. Currently, that is not possible since the worktree code is: - Tied to using the global `the_repository` variable. - Is not setup before the reference database during initialization of the repository. Add a TODO in 'refs.c' to ensure we can eventually make that change. Helped-by: Patrick Steinhardt Signed-off-by: Karthik Nayak Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano

setup: don't modify repo in `create_reference_database()`

2026-02-25T17:27:11Z

The `create_reference_database()` function is used to create the reference database during initialization of a repository. The function calls `repo_set_ref_storage_format()` to set the repositories reference format. This is an unexpected side-effect of the function. More so because the function is only called in two locations: 1. During git-init(1) where the value is propagated from the `struct repository_format repo_fmt` value. 2. During git-clone(1) where the value is propagated from the `the_repository` value. The former is valid, however the flow already calls `repo_set_ref_storage_format()`, so this effort is simply duplicated. The latter sets the existing value in `the_repository` back to itself. While this is okay for now, introduction of more fields in `repo_set_ref_storage_format()` would cause issues, especially dynamically allocated strings, where we would free/allocate the same string back into `the_repostiory`. To avoid all this confusion, clean up the function to no longer take in and set the repo's reference storage format. Signed-off-by: Karthik Nayak Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano

Merge branch 'rs/clean-includes'

2026-02-17T21:30:42Z

Clean up redundant includes of header files. * rs/clean-includes: remove duplicate includes

remove duplicate includes

2026-02-08T23:03:06Z

The following command reports that some header files are included twice: $ git grep '#include' '*.c' | sort | uniq -cd Remove the second #include line in each case, as it has no effect. Signed-off-by: René Scharfe Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano

Merge branch 'ar/submodule-gitdir-tweak'

2026-02-05T23:41:58Z

Avoid local submodule repository directory paths overlapping with each other by encoding submodule names before using them as path components. * ar/submodule-gitdir-tweak: submodule: detect conflicts with existing gitdir configs submodule: hash the submodule name for the gitdir path submodule: fix case-folding gitdir filesystem collisions submodule--helper: fix filesystem collisions by encoding gitdir paths builtin/credential-store: move is_rfc3986_unreserved to url.[ch] submodule--helper: add gitdir migration command submodule: allow runtime enabling extensions.submodulePathConfig submodule: introduce extensions.submodulePathConfig builtin/submodule--helper: add gitdir command submodule: always validate gitdirs inside submodule_name_to_gitdir submodule--helper: use submodule_name_to_gitdir in add_submodule

submodule: allow runtime enabling extensions.submodulePathConfig

2026-01-12T19:56:56Z

Add a new config `init.defaultSubmodulePathConfig` which allows enabling `extensions.submodulePathConfig` for new submodules by default (those created via git init or clone). Important: setting init.defaultSubmodulePathConfig = true does not globally enable `extensions.submodulePathConfig`. Existing repositories will still have the extension disabled and will require migration (for example via git submodule--helper command added in the next commit). Suggested-by: Patrick Steinhardt Suggested-by: Junio C Hamano Signed-off-by: Adrian Ratiu Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano