Git - refs/for and refs using in Git

Git refs/for

git push [option] [ < repository > [< refspec >]]

refs

• git manages all commit in key-value form
• Key is 40 digits of hash value made of SHA-1.
• Hash values are stored in a file with an name References
  • .git/refs
• All refs are stored in .git/refs
• Heads, remotes, and tags directories exist at .git/refs

$ pwd
.git/refs

$ ls
heads/  remotes/  tags/

$ cd
heads/

$ ls
master

$ cat master
6aeawerdfgdfg861145f19sdfafetrgf80af91

• in above example, Master Branch is refs
• git refers to the refs pointing to a particular task as branch

refs/for in Gerrit

Gerrit Documentation

When pushing a new or updated commit to Gerrit, you push that commit using a reference, in the refs/for namespace. This reference must also define the target branch, such as refs/for/[BRANCH_NAME].

For example, to create a new change on the master branch, you would use the following command:

$ git push origin HEAD:refs/for/master

The refs/for/[BRANCH_NAME] syntax allows Gerrit to differentiate between commits that are pushed for review and commits that are pushed directly into the repository.

• refer to
  • why using refs/for in gerrit