refs: refuse to write pseudorefs

Pseudorefs are not stored in the ref database as by definition, they
carry additional metadata that essentially makes them not a ref. As
such, writing pseudorefs via the ref backend does not make any sense
whatsoever as the ref backend wouldn't know how exactly to store the
data.

Restrict writing pseudorefs via the ref backend.

Signed-off-by: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>

1 files changed, 7 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/refs.c b/refs.c
index c13b8ff6d8..9abd9e5b86 100644
--- a/refs.c
+++ b/refs.c
@@ -1263,6 +1263,13 @@ int ref_transaction_update(struct ref_transaction *transaction,
 		return -1;
 	}
 
+	if (!(flags & REF_SKIP_REFNAME_VERIFICATION) &&
+	    is_pseudo_ref(refname)) {
+		strbuf_addf(err, _("refusing to update pseudoref '%s'"),
+			    refname);
+		return -1;
+	}
+
 	if (flags & ~REF_TRANSACTION_UPDATE_ALLOWED_FLAGS)
 		BUG("illegal flags 0x%x passed to ref_transaction_update()", flags);