Subject: [PATCH v3 2/2] rev-parse: use selected alternate terms to look up refs

From: Jonas Rebmann <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2026 18:48:31 +0200

git rev-parse --bisect does not work when alternate bisect terms are
used, simply listing no revisions at all.

This is because a such bisect using e.g. "old" and "new" in place of
"good" and "bad" will name refs "refs/bisect/old" (or new) accordingly
so the hardcoded "refs/bisect/bad" (and good) yields no results in a
bisect using alternate terms.

Use the current bisect_terms to make rev-parse --bisect work in an
alternate term bisect.

Signed-off-by: Jonas Rebmann <[email-masked]>
---
 builtin/rev-parse.c  | 15 +++++++++++++--
 t/t1500-rev-parse.sh | 25 +++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 38 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/builtin/rev-parse.c b/builtin/rev-parse.c
index 218b5f34d6..7531edae9e 100644
--- a/builtin/rev-parse.c
+++ b/builtin/rev-parse.c
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 #include "builtin.h"
 
 #include "abspath.h"
+#include "bisect.h"
 #include "config.h"
 #include "commit.h"
 #include "environment.h"
@@ -940,13 +941,23 @@ int cmd_rev_parse(int argc,
 				continue;
 			}
 			if (!strcmp(arg, "--bisect")) {
+				char *prefix;
+				char *term_bad = NULL;
+				char *term_good = NULL;
 				struct refs_for_each_ref_options opts = { 0 };
-				opts.prefix = "refs/bisect/bad";
+				read_bisect_terms(&term_bad, &term_good);
+				prefix = xstrfmt("refs/bisect/%s", term_bad);
+				opts.prefix = prefix;
 				refs_for_each_ref_ext(get_main_ref_store(the_repository),
 						      show_reference, NULL, &opts);
-				opts.prefix = "refs/bisect/good";
+				free(prefix);
+				prefix = xstrfmt("refs/bisect/%s", term_good);
+				opts.prefix = prefix;
 				refs_for_each_ref_ext(get_main_ref_store(the_repository),
 						      anti_reference, NULL, &opts);
+				free(prefix);
+				free(term_good);
+				free(term_bad);
 				continue;
 			}
 			if (opt_with_value(arg, "--branches", &arg)) {
diff --git a/t/t1500-rev-parse.sh b/t/t1500-rev-parse.sh
index 98c5a772bd..38067d95f7 100755
--- a/t/t1500-rev-parse.sh
+++ b/t/t1500-rev-parse.sh
@@ -337,6 +337,31 @@ test_expect_success 'rev-parse --bisect includes bad, excludes good' '
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'rev-parse --bisect works with alternate terms' '
+	test_commit_bulk 6 &&
+
+	git bisect start --term-old=known --term-new=curious &&
+
+	git update-ref refs/bisect/curious-1 HEAD~1 &&
+	git update-ref refs/bisect/bad HEAD~2 &&
+	git update-ref refs/bisect/curious-3 HEAD~3 &&
+	git update-ref refs/bisect/known-3 HEAD~3 &&
+	git update-ref refs/bisect/curious-4 HEAD~4 &&
+	git update-ref refs/bisect/good HEAD~4 &&
+
+	# Note: refs/bisect/bad and refs/bisect/goood should be ignored because this
+	# is a bisect with custom terms (known/curious)
+	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
+	refs/bisect/curious-1
+	refs/bisect/curious-3
+	refs/bisect/curious-4
+	^refs/bisect/known-3
+	EOF
+
+	git rev-parse --symbolic-full-name --bisect >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
 test_expect_success '--short= truncates to the actual hash length' '
 	git rev-parse HEAD >expect &&
 	git rev-parse --short=100 HEAD >actual &&

-- 
2.53.0