From: "Harald Nordgren via GitGitGadget" <gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
To: git@vger.kernel.org
Cc: Harald Nordgren <haraldnordgren@gmail.com>,
Harald Nordgren <haraldnordgren@gmail.com>
Subject: [PATCH] remote: add --set-head option to 'git remote add'
Date: Sat, 25 Apr 2026 11:19:38 +0000 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <pull.2283.git.git.1777115978088.gitgitgadget@gmail.com> (raw)
From: Harald Nordgren <haraldnordgren@gmail.com>
Mirror the behavior 'git clone' applies to its first remote: after
fetching, set refs/remotes/<name>/HEAD to the remote's default branch.
Equivalent to running:
git remote add -f <name> <url>
git remote set-head <name> -a
The new option implies --fetch.
Signed-off-by: Harald Nordgren <haraldnordgren@gmail.com>
---
remote: add --set-head option to 'git remote add'
When using GitHub's gh tool to fork a repo, it seems that set-head isn't
run on the upstream remote. So its default branch is not recorded
locally, meaning that 'git log fork' will not work.
With git remote add --set-head upstream , the default branch is set in
the same step and things can work out of the box after a small change on
'gh' that I will do as a next step.
Published-As: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/releases/tag/pr-git-2283%2FHaraldNordgren%2Fset_head-v1
Fetch-It-Via: git fetch https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git pr-git-2283/HaraldNordgren/set_head-v1
Pull-Request: https://github.com/git/git/pull/2283
Documentation/git-remote.adoc | 9 ++++++++-
builtin/remote.c | 26 ++++++++++++++++++++++++--
t/t5505-remote.sh | 8 ++++++++
3 files changed, 40 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/git-remote.adoc b/Documentation/git-remote.adoc
index eaae30aa88..0ef49c4164 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-remote.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/git-remote.adoc
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ SYNOPSIS
--------
[synopsis]
git remote [-v | --verbose]
-git remote add [-t <branch>] [-m <master>] [-f] [--[no-]tags] [--mirror=(fetch|push)] <name> <URL>
+git remote add [-t <branch>] [-m <master>] [-f] [--set-head] [--[no-]tags] [--mirror=(fetch|push)] <name> <URL>
git remote rename [--[no-]progress] <old> <new>
git remote remove <name>
git remote set-head <name> (-a | --auto | -d | --delete | <branch>)
@@ -73,6 +73,13 @@ multiple branches without grabbing all branches.
With `-m <master>` option, a symbolic-ref `refs/remotes/<name>/HEAD` is set
up to point at remote's _<master>_ branch. See also the set-head command.
+
+With `--set-head` option, a symbolic-ref `refs/remotes/<name>/HEAD` is set
+up to point at the remote's default branch, mirroring the behavior of
+`git clone`. This is equivalent to running `git remote set-head <name> -a`
+after the remote is added, and implies `-f` so that the remote's refs are
+available locally. It cannot be combined with `-m <master>` or with a push
+mirror.
++
When a fetch mirror is created with `--mirror=fetch`, the refs will not
be stored in the `refs/remotes/` namespace, but rather everything in
`refs/` on the remote will be directly mirrored into `refs/` in the
diff --git a/builtin/remote.c b/builtin/remote.c
index de989ea3ba..8273b425a5 100644
--- a/builtin/remote.c
+++ b/builtin/remote.c
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
static const char * const builtin_remote_usage[] = {
"git remote [-v | --verbose]",
- N_("git remote add [-t <branch>] [-m <master>] [-f] [--tags | --no-tags] [--mirror=<fetch|push>] <name> <url>"),
+ N_("git remote add [-t <branch>] [-m <master>] [-f] [--set-head] [--tags | --no-tags] [--mirror=<fetch|push>] <name> <url>"),
N_("git remote rename [--[no-]progress] <old> <new>"),
N_("git remote remove <name>"),
N_("git remote set-head <name> (-a | --auto | -d | --delete | <branch>)"),
@@ -174,10 +174,21 @@ static int check_remote_collision(struct remote *remote, void *data)
return 0;
}
+static int set_head_auto_for_remote(const char *name)
+{
+ struct child_process cmd = CHILD_PROCESS_INIT;
+
+ strvec_pushl(&cmd.args, "remote", "set-head", "--auto", name, NULL);
+ cmd.git_cmd = 1;
+ if (run_command(&cmd))
+ return error(_("Could not set up HEAD for %s"), name);
+ return 0;
+}
+
static int add(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix,
struct repository *repo UNUSED)
{
- int fetch = 0, fetch_tags = TAGS_DEFAULT;
+ int fetch = 0, fetch_tags = TAGS_DEFAULT, set_head_auto = 0;
unsigned mirror = MIRROR_NONE;
struct string_list track = STRING_LIST_INIT_NODUP;
const char *master = NULL;
@@ -195,6 +206,8 @@ static int add(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix,
OPT_STRING_LIST('t', "track", &track, N_("branch"),
N_("branch(es) to track")),
OPT_STRING('m', "master", &master, N_("branch"), N_("master branch")),
+ OPT_BOOL(0, "set-head", &set_head_auto,
+ N_("set refs/remotes/<name>/HEAD according to remote (implies --fetch)")),
OPT_CALLBACK_F(0, "mirror", &mirror, "(push|fetch)",
N_("set up remote as a mirror to push to or fetch from"),
PARSE_OPT_OPTARG | PARSE_OPT_COMP_ARG, parse_mirror_opt),
@@ -211,6 +224,12 @@ static int add(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix,
die(_("specifying a master branch makes no sense with --mirror"));
if (mirror && !(mirror & MIRROR_FETCH) && track.nr)
die(_("specifying branches to track makes sense only with fetch mirrors"));
+ if (set_head_auto && master)
+ die(_("--set-head and --master are mutually exclusive"));
+ if (set_head_auto && mirror && !(mirror & MIRROR_FETCH))
+ die(_("--set-head makes no sense with a push mirror"));
+ if (set_head_auto)
+ fetch = 1;
name = argv[0];
url = argv[1];
@@ -269,6 +288,9 @@ static int add(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix,
result = error(_("Could not setup master '%s'"), master);
}
+ if (set_head_auto && set_head_auto_for_remote(name))
+ result = 1;
+
out:
strbuf_release(&buf);
strbuf_release(&buf2);
diff --git a/t/t5505-remote.sh b/t/t5505-remote.sh
index e592c0bcde..043c86315f 100755
--- a/t/t5505-remote.sh
+++ b/t/t5505-remote.sh
@@ -81,6 +81,14 @@ test_expect_success 'add another remote' '
)
'
+test_expect_success 'add remote with --set-head implies --fetch and sets HEAD' '
+ test_when_finished "git -C test remote remove third" &&
+ git -C test remote add --set-head third ../two &&
+ echo refs/remotes/third/main >expect &&
+ git -C test symbolic-ref refs/remotes/third/HEAD >actual &&
+ test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
test_expect_success 'setup bare clone for server' '
git clone --bare "file://$(pwd)/one" srv.bare &&
git -C srv.bare config --local uploadpack.allowfilter 1 &&
base-commit: 94f057755b7941b321fd11fec1b2e3ca5313a4e0
--
gitgitgadget
next reply other threads:[~2026-04-25 11:19 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 7+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-04-25 11:19 Harald Nordgren via GitGitGadget [this message]
2026-04-25 17:20 ` [PATCH] remote: add --set-head option to 'git remote add' Ben Knoble
2026-04-25 18:07 ` gh Harald Nordgren
2026-04-25 21:58 ` [PATCH] remote: add --set-head option to 'git remote add' Junio C Hamano
2026-04-25 22:06 ` Jeff King
2026-04-26 8:21 ` Harald Nordgren
-- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
2026-04-26 7:07 Wrong subject line Kristoffer Haugsbakk
2026-04-26 15:15 ` [PATCH] remote: add --set-head option to 'git remote add' Harald Nordgren
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