Subject: Re: [PATCH v2 2/2] rev-parse: use selected alternate terms too look up refs

From: Phillip Wood <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 24 Mar 2026 10:49:32 +0000

Hi Jonas

On 23/03/2026 22:49, Jonas Rebmann wrote:
> An old/new bisect 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.

It would be clearer if the commit message started by stating the problem 
that it is solving i.e. "git rev-parse --bisect" does not work if the 
bisect is using alternate term names.

> 
> Signed-off-by: Jonas Rebmann <[email-masked]>
> ---
>   builtin/rev-parse.c | 8 ++++++--
>   1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/builtin/rev-parse.c b/builtin/rev-parse.c
> index 01a62800e8..f20f0554ed 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"
> @@ -940,11 +941,14 @@ int cmd_rev_parse(int argc,
>   				continue;
>   			}
>   			if (!strcmp(arg, "--bisect")) {
> +				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);

If we fail to read the terms because there is no bisect in progress then 
term_bad and term_good will be NULL and so the next line will segfault. 
We should also free term_bad and term_good once we've finished with them 
to avoid a memory leak. It would be a good idea to add some tests.

Thanks

Phillip

> +				opts.prefix = xstrfmt("refs/bisect/%s", term_bad);
>   				refs_for_each_ref_ext(get_main_ref_store(the_repository),
>   						      show_reference, NULL, &opts);
> -				opts.prefix = "refs/bisect/good";
> +				opts.prefix = xstrfmt("refs/bisect/%s", term_good);
>   				refs_for_each_ref_ext(get_main_ref_store(the_repository),
>   						      anti_reference, NULL, &opts);
>   				continue;
>