[v2,4/4] tag: "git tag" refuses to use HEAD as a tagname

Commit Message

Junio C Hamano Dec. 3, 2024, 2:32 a.m. UTC

Even though the plumbing level allows you to create refs/tags/HEAD
and refs/heads/HEAD, doing so makes it confusing within the context
of the UI Git Porcelain commands provides.  Just like we prevent a
branch from getting called "HEAD" at the Porcelain layer (i.e. "git
branch" command), teach "git tag" to refuse to create a tag "HEAD".

With a few new tests, we make sure that

 - "git tag HEAD" and "git tag -a HEAD" are rejected

 - "git update-ref refs/tags/HEAD" is still allowed (this is a
   deliberate design decision to allow others to create their own UI
   on top of Git infrastructure that may be different from our UI).

 - "git tag -d HEAD" can remove refs/tags/HEAD to recover from an
   mistake.

Helped-by: Jeff King <[e-mail]>
Helped-by: Rubén Justo <[e-mail]>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <[e-mail]>
---
 refs.c         |  2 +-
 t/t7004-tag.sh | 12 ++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 13 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

Patch

diff --git a/refs.c b/refs.c
index a24bfe3845..01ef2a3093 100644
--- a/refs.c
+++ b/refs.c
@@ -735,7 +735,7 @@  int check_branch_ref(struct strbuf *sb, const char *name)
 
 int check_tag_ref(struct strbuf *sb, const char *name)
 {
-	if (name[0] == '-')
+	if (name[0] == '-' || !strcmp(name, "HEAD"))
 		return -1;
 
 	strbuf_reset(sb);
diff --git a/t/t7004-tag.sh b/t/t7004-tag.sh
index b1316e62f4..34d34b0dfb 100755
--- a/t/t7004-tag.sh
+++ b/t/t7004-tag.sh
@@ -91,6 +91,18 @@  test_expect_success 'creating a tag using default HEAD should succeed' '
 	test_must_fail git reflog exists refs/tags/mytag
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'HEAD is forbidden as a tagname' '
+	test_when_finished "git update-ref --no-deref -d refs/tags/HEAD || :" &&
+	test_must_fail git tag HEAD &&
+	test_must_fail git tag -a -m "useless" HEAD
+'
+
+test_expect_success '"git tag" can remove a tag named HEAD' '
+	test_when_finished "git update-ref --no-deref -d refs/tags/HEAD || :" &&
+	git update-ref refs/tags/HEAD HEAD &&
+	git tag -d HEAD
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'creating a tag with --create-reflog should create reflog' '
 	git log -1 \
 		--format="format:tag: tagging %h (%s, %cd)%n" \