Git hook to prevent pushing to a list of branches

git-push

#!/bin/bash
# Copy this as .git/hooks/pre-push
# Customize PROTECTED_BRANCHES
# Make it executable
set -e

PROTECTED_BRANCHES="master release"

confirm() {
    local local_branch
    local remote_branch
    local_branch=$1
    remote_branch=$2
    echo "Pushing to $remote_branch"
    read -p "You're about to push $local_branch to $remote_branch, is that what you intended? [y|n] " -n 1 -r < /dev/tty
    echo
    if echo $REPLY | grep -E '^[Yy]$' > /dev/null ; then
        echo "Proceeding"
    else
        exit 1 # push will not execute
    fi
}

IFS=' '
while read local_ref local_sha remote_ref remote_sha ; do
    for branch in $PROTECTED_BRANCHES ; do
        if [ "$remote_ref" = "refs/heads/$branch" ] ; then
            confirm $local_ref $branch
            exit 0
        fi
    done
done