Git describe finding wrong tag

Git describe finding wrong tag

[Kevin Ballard]

I just encountered an odd situation where `git describe` insists on finding the
wrong tag. In my case, I tagged a branch, then merged it into another branch,
and now `git describe` in that other branch decides that it should emit a tag
name that's over 200 commits old rather than the one that's a single commit
away.

% git --version
git version 1.7.4.31.g3f8c4
% git describe
build_1.2.2_applestore_1-203-g742967b
% git describe HEAD^2
build_1.2.2

Is there any rational for why git-describe is opting for the much older
commit?

-Kevin Ballard

Re: Git describe finding wrong tag

[Johannes Sixt]

Am 2/8/2011 5:46, schrieb Kevin Ballard:
> I just encountered an odd situation where `git describe` insists on finding the
> wrong tag. In my case, I tagged a branch, then merged it into another branch,
> and now `git describe` in that other branch decides that it should emit a tag
> name that's over 200 commits old rather than the one that's a single commit
> away.
> 
> % git --version
> git version 1.7.4.31.g3f8c4
> % git describe
> build_1.2.2_applestore_1-203-g742967b
> % git describe HEAD^2
> build_1.2.2
> 
> Is there any rational for why git-describe is opting for the much older
> commit?

Most likely, the situation outlined in this commit message applies to your
case:

http://git.kernel.org/?p=git/git.git;a=commit;h=80dbae03

Then what you observe is by design.

-- Hannes

Re: Git describe finding wrong tag

[Kevin Ballard]

On Feb 7, 2011, at 11:19 PM, Johannes Sixt wrote:

> Am 2/8/2011 5:46, schrieb Kevin Ballard:
>> I just encountered an odd situation where `git describe` insists on finding the
>> wrong tag. In my case, I tagged a branch, then merged it into another branch,
>> and now `git describe` in that other branch decides that it should emit a tag
>> name that's over 200 commits old rather than the one that's a single commit
>> away.
>> 
>> % git --version
>> git version 1.7.4.31.g3f8c4
>> % git describe
>> build_1.2.2_applestore_1-203-g742967b
>> % git describe HEAD^2
>> build_1.2.2
>> 
>> Is there any rational for why git-describe is opting for the much older
>> commit?
> 
> Most likely, the situation outlined in this commit message applies to your
> case:
> 
> http://git.kernel.org/?p=git/git.git;a=commit;h=80dbae03
> 
> Then what you observe is by design.

You are right, that does explain it. It feels rather odd that I can merge in
a tagged commit and have `git describe` not then use that tag, but I suppose
the new behavior makes sense.

Thanks for the explanation.

-Kevin Ballard