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

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

On Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 23:36, Todd A. Jacobs <nospam@codegnome.org> wrote:
> On Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 09:36:47PM -0800, Jacob Helwig wrote:
>
>> What version of git are you using?  git checkout -b foo/bar/baz works
>
> I'm using 1.6.5.2 as well. Okay, try this in a temp directory, and
> you'll see what I mean:
>
>    git init
>    echo foo > foo
>    git add foo
>    git commit -m testing foo
>    git checkout -b dev
>    git checkout -b dev/feature/foobar
>
> The first branch works fine, but after attempting the nested branch the
> message reappears:
>
>    error: unable to resolve reference refs/heads/dev/feature/foobar: Not a directory
>    fatal: Failed to lock ref for update: Not a directory
>
> I can recreate this behavior at any time; it isn't just a problem with
> an existing repository.
>
> --
> "Oh, look: rocks!"
>        -- Doctor Who, "Destiny of the Daleks"
>

The problem is that you have a branch dev.  You can't have both a
file, and a directory with the same name.

You're trying to get git to do basically this:

% cd .git/refs/heads
% ls -l
total 0
-rw-rw-r-- 1 jhe jhe 41 2009-11-14 23:51 dev
-rw-rw-r-- 1 jhe jhe 41 2009-11-14 23:51 master
% mkdir dev
mkdir: cannot create directory `dev': File exists

You're getting the equivalent of the "cannot create directory" error.
When you have a branch with slashes in it, it gets stored as a
directory hierarchy under .git/refs/heads.

-Jacob