Subject: Re: [PATCH v26 2/2] status: add status.compareBranches config for multiple branch comparisons

From: Jeff King <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2026 00:14:06 -0500

On Sun, Jan 18, 2026 at 07:59:13PM +0000, Harald Nordgren via GitGitGadget wrote:

> @@ -272,6 +278,7 @@ static void branch_release(struct branch *branch)
>  	free((char *)branch->refname);
>  	free(branch->remote_name);
>  	free(branch->pushremote_name);
> +	free((char *)branch->push_tracking_ref);
>  	merge_clear(branch);
>  }
>  

I don't think this line is right. The push_tracking_ref field is const
because it may or may not be a newly allocated string. In particular,
with push.default=upstream, it will be a copy of the string returned
from branch_get_upstream(), which is covered by the merge_clear() call.
So we'd get a double-free.

This is due to some memory-management hackery in e291c75a95 (remote.c:
add branch_get_push, 2015-05-21). The good news is that not only is it
not too hard to untangle this, but it is closely related to leaks you
are seeing on your topic.

I'll post a series in a moment fixing both.

-Peff