[PATCH v3] worktree add: shouldn't dwim if -b or -B is given

"Yoichi NAKAYAMA via GitGitGadget" <[email protected]> Wed, 05 Aug 2026 12:54:45 +0000
Newsgroups org.kernel.vger.git
Message-ID <[email protected]>
From: Yoichi NAKAYAMA <[email protected]>

'git worktree add <path> <branch>' DWIMs <branch> to a
remote-tracking branch when neither -b, -B, nor --detach
is given.

However, 'git worktree add -b <new-branch> <path> <branch>' can
still DWIM <branch>, causing <new-branch> to be ignored.

This is a regression introduced in v2.42.0
(128e5496b325640f0a09cc1d5b1e346c069b410f).

Signed-off-by: Yoichi NAKAYAMA <[email protected]>
---
    worktree add: shouldn't dwim if -b or -B is given

Published-As: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/releases/tag/pr-2192%2Fyoichi%2Fworktree-add-should-not-dwim-with-b-v3
Fetch-It-Via: git fetch https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git pr-2192/yoichi/worktree-add-should-not-dwim-with-b-v3
Pull-Request: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/pull/2192

Range-diff vs v2:

 1:  b00f6c2fa1 ! 1:  477ea27c8b worktree add: shouldn't dwim if -b or -B is given
     @@ Metadata
       ## Commit message ##
          worktree add: shouldn't dwim if -b or -B is given
      
     -    git worktree add <path> <branch> DWIMs <branch> to a
     +    'git worktree add <path> <branch>' DWIMs <branch> to a
          remote-tracking branch when neither -b, -B, nor --detach
          is given.
      
     -    However, git worktree add -b <new-branch> <path> <branch> can
     +    However, 'git worktree add -b <new-branch> <path> <branch>' can
          still DWIM <branch>, causing <new-branch> to be ignored.
      
          This is a regression introduced in v2.42.0


 builtin/worktree.c      | 22 ++++++++++++----------
 t/t2400-worktree-add.sh | 10 ++++++++++
 2 files changed, 22 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/builtin/worktree.c b/builtin/worktree.c
index 654d27c3e1..cc46c1b415 100644
--- a/builtin/worktree.c
+++ b/builtin/worktree.c
@@ -898,16 +898,18 @@ static int add(int ac, const char **av, const char *prefix,
 		/* DWIM: Infer --orphan when repo has no refs. */
 		opts.orphan = (!s) && dwim_orphan(&opts, !!opt_track, 1);
 	} else if (ac == 2) {
-		struct object_id oid;
-		struct commit *commit;
-		char *remote;
-
-		commit = lookup_commit_reference_by_name(branch);
-		if (!commit) {
-			remote = unique_tracking_name(branch, &oid, NULL);
-			if (remote) {
-				new_branch = branch;
-				branch = new_branch_to_free = remote;
+		if (!new_branch) {
+			struct object_id oid;
+			struct commit *commit;
+			char *remote;
+
+			commit = lookup_commit_reference_by_name(branch);
+			if (!commit) {
+				remote = unique_tracking_name(branch, &oid, NULL);
+				if (remote) {
+					new_branch = branch;
+					branch = new_branch_to_free = remote;
+				}
 			}
 		}
 
diff --git a/t/t2400-worktree-add.sh b/t/t2400-worktree-add.sh
index 87b926728a..ba3bec078f 100755
--- a/t/t2400-worktree-add.sh
+++ b/t/t2400-worktree-add.sh
@@ -621,6 +621,16 @@ test_expect_success '"add" <path> <branch> dwims' '
 	)
 '
 
+test_expect_success '"add" <path> <branch> does not dwim with -b' '
+	test_when_finished rm -rf repo_upstream repo_dwim wt &&
+	setup_remote_repo repo_upstream repo_dwim &&
+	(
+		cd repo_dwim &&
+		test_must_fail git worktree add -b branch ../wt foo 2>actual &&
+		test_grep "^fatal: invalid reference: foo" actual
+	)
+'
+
 test_expect_success '"add" <path> <branch> dwims with checkout.defaultRemote' '
 	test_when_finished rm -rf repo_upstream repo_dwim foo &&
 	setup_remote_repo repo_upstream repo_dwim &&

base-commit: 5b2471720c93ee30e5764a19f3d3b3ae9ec9712a
-- 
gitgitgadget