what useful refs are inside '.git' directory, part 3 - special names for commits [git]

README.md

• HEAD - pointer to the local branch you’re currently on (reference to the most recent commit in curent branch)
  • $ cat .git/HEAD

ref: refs/heads/master

• refs/remotes/origin/HEAD - is the same type of pointer as local HEAD, but for origin remote

  • all refs/remotes/origin/* are remote-tracking branches which are local references (to the state of remote branches) that you can’t move

    • Git moves them for you whenever you do any network communication, to make sure they accurately represent the state of the remote repository
    • think of them as bookmarks, to remind you where the branches in your remote repositories were the last time you connected to them
    • git fetch <remote-name> updates your remote-tracking branches

  • for GitHub it is the “base” branch in your (remote) repository, against which all pull requests and code commits are automatically made, unless you specify a different branch

  • $ cat .git/refs/remotes/origin/HEAD

ref: refs/remotes/origin/master

• ORIG_HEAD - is set to the value of HEAD before operations changing the currently checked-out commit (git merges, git reset)
  • cat .git/ORIG_HEAD

4b1ea8f65eb4911139c900605df0f6f3dbf17bf2

• FETCH_HEAD - is set to the head of the last fetched branch by git fetch operation
• • $ cat .git/HEAD # cloned (non-bare) repo

16600c85005bc95c4933125394b79de03d4a9e02		branch 'master' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
bb2e4197f7a43a657679aaa0431074a4c5243a34	not-for-merge	branch 'gf' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
bb2e4197f7a43a657679aaa0431074a4c5243a34	not-for-merge	branch 'greate-feature' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
0b2f912cc59f06cde211fab3d2e505120656edee	not-for-merge	branch 'user/feature13' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
6cf4610fc2b4aaa18002f3592a5cbe1161cab196	not-for-merge	branch 'user/feature14' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
a11074212323a2bed2b11c31cd232fa8d03862f4	not-for-merge	branch 'user/feature19' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
2ca50b0c10fff54b9a1c7a833940b3a15a77a47c	not-for-merge	branch 'user/feature20' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx

• • $ cat .git/HEAD # mirrored bare repo

50b3ba9f8277e04b55553b2968ff3c83c8ef1453		branch 'master' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
bb2e4197f7a43a657679aaa0431074a4c5243a34	not-for-merge	branch 'gf' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
bb2e4197f7a43a657679aaa0431074a4c5243a34	not-for-merge	branch 'greate-feature' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
ce46a4519061e27250e1284523d8b3275f07248b	not-for-merge	branch 'user/feature10' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
0b2f912cc59f06cde211fab3d2e505120656edee	not-for-merge	branch 'user/feature13' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
6cf4610fc2b4aaa18002f3592a5cbe1161cab196	not-for-merge	branch 'user/feature14' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
14918306f5a5d375e553ce9ef3fb044bae275201	not-for-merge	branch 'user/feature16' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
2f27b0ffe0330565411d6b8a28f7c92f90852aca	not-for-merge	'refs/pull/1/head' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
ce46a4519061e27250e1284523d8b3275f07248b	not-for-merge	'refs/pull/10/head' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
ba73b7f6a48ea8ca6373b16ca5a9d67103d12c86	not-for-merge	'refs/pull/11/head' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
617ab4449a6a5796bc05f4d9374d1a57caf3577c	not-for-merge	'refs/pull/12/head' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
cddbf6d94f517951e7108f655671e6b7e78e175b	not-for-merge	'refs/pull/13/head' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
6cf4610fc2b4aaa18002f3592a5cbe1161cab196	not-for-merge	'refs/pull/14/head' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
b2f1492ac129f37432280f61926ff9a2089ee587	not-for-merge	'refs/pull/14/merge' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
bd35ca81676735ddbf5ccdbfbd8f86f6d9423e13	not-for-merge	'refs/pull/15/head' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
14918306f5a5d375e553ce9ef3fb044bae275201	not-for-merge	'refs/pull/16/head' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
66d6dff9328982649dfdf3d56e629ede660a0146	not-for-merge	'refs/pull/2/head' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
f96c6c3ebc5819cf7561acd6c439b5989522765a	not-for-merge	'refs/pull/3/head' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
429f925d2c6476bd5cb0245417b304b37a366439	not-for-merge	'refs/pull/4/head' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
bc2c663578912c42f479934de17b40db8c6b7c51	not-for-merge	'refs/pull/5/head' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
42347165778cd5640720f66fc3d4919905f84d70	not-for-merge	'refs/pull/6/head' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
545c6ee5e166a6fb65ad93f1fdbc284c77a535f0	not-for-merge	'refs/pull/7/head' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
042ef1b40b11cb304315c69f210ebfeb3efe5989	not-for-merge	'refs/pull/8/head' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
71940958cc9ebf3904119ae16c549cc23cbe6652	not-for-merge	'refs/pull/9/head' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
44eac6ac98c3c7bde5a183418ed16dee87540b57	not-for-merge	tag 'v0.0.1' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
dfcad2cba1f1550900941d52698abf98e166c10f	not-for-merge	tag 'v0.0.2' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
6cc157a6219262b8f454db5701e2b4a7af6ec6b8	not-for-merge	tag 'v0.0.3' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
d9de8d804d5f93ca9a757997758c15d7c12dfbfe	not-for-merge	tag 'v0.0.4' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
876b83ed8fe60e9db0d543d0b9a32c630565abc3	not-for-merge	tag 'v0.0.5' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx
685234a3ba1e408df54d1ce5a9836df95346ae81	not-for-merge	tag 'v0.0.6' of https://github.com/txxxx-xx/gxx-xxxxx

• MERGE_HEAD - refers to the other branch that we’re merging in to the current branch by merging operations