Re: PEBKAC or bug: unable to create path-like branch names

[Jacob Helwig <jacob.helwig@gmail.com>]

On Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 21:02, Todd A. Jacobs <nospam@codegnome.org> wrote:
> I want to create a nested feature branch, but git keeps complaining if I
> nest more than one level deep:
>
>    $ git checkout -b dev/feature/foo
>    error: unable to resolve reference refs/heads/dev/feature/foo:
>    Not a directory
>    fatal: Failed to lock ref for update: Not a directory
>
> Based on my reading of the manual pages, it seems like I should be able
> to nest branch names as long as it conforms to certain rules. I read
> git-branch(1), which points me to git-check-ref-format(1), which seems
> to say that the rules are being followed.
>
> On the other hand, running:
>
>    $ git check-ref-format foo; echo $?
>
> always results in a non-zero error code, even with a literal 'foo' as a
> branch name, so clearly it isn't saying what I think it's saying.
> *shrug*
>
> Can someone provide a little clarity here?
>
> --
> "Oh, look: rocks!"
>        -- Doctor Who, "Destiny of the Daleks"
>

What version of git are you using?  git checkout -b foo/bar/baz works
for me on 1.6.5.2.  As far as git check-ref-format, it works (returns
0) if I do 'refs/heads/foo', but returns 1 on 'foo'.  This makes
sense, given rule 2 from the manpage: They must contain at least one
/. This enforces the presence of a category like heads/, tags/ etc.
but the actual names are not restricted.

Hope this helps.

-Jacob