Re: [PATCH v3] update-ref: add --rename option

[Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>]

On Fri, Jun 12, 2026 at 08:41:48AM -0700, Junio C Hamano wrote:
> Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im> writes:
> 
> > A slight tangent: this is part of why I really don't like commands that
> > determine their mode via flags: you now have to worry about every
> > combination of flags and whether they even make sense. With subcommands
> > we at least only have to worry about the set of flags that directly
> > apply to that given subcommand.
> >
> > Makes me wonder whether I should have a look at extending git-refs(1)
> > further:
> >
> >     git refs delete <ref> [<oldvalue>]
> >     git refs update <ref> <newvalue> [<oldvalue>]
> >     git refs rename <ref> <oldname> <newname>
> >
> > I always wanted to do this eventually so that we have one top-level
> > command that knows how to do "everything refs".
> 
> That may indeed be a better direction to go, but isn't update-ref
> the "everything refs" command already?

Well, it doesn't handle reading references, which is something that
git-refs(1) already knows to do.

Patrick