[v3,1/2] reflog: improve error for when reflog is not found

Commit Message

Karthik Nayak March 14, 2025, 8:40 a.m. UTC

The 'git reflog expire' prints the error message '<ref> points nowhere!'
when used with a non-existent ref. This message is a bit confusing and
vague. Modify the message to be more clear and direct.

Signed-off-by: Karthik Nayak <[e-mail]>
---
 builtin/reflog.c  | 2 +-
 t/t1410-reflog.sh | 4 ++--
 2 files changed, 3 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

Patch

diff --git a/builtin/reflog.c b/builtin/reflog.c
index 95f264989b..762719315e 100644
--- a/builtin/reflog.c
+++ b/builtin/reflog.c
@@ -383,7 +383,7 @@  static int cmd_reflog_expire(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix,
 		struct expire_reflog_policy_cb cb = { .cmd = cmd };
 
 		if (!repo_dwim_log(the_repository, argv[i], strlen(argv[i]), NULL, &ref)) {
-			status |= error(_("%s points nowhere!"), argv[i]);
+			status |= error(_("reflog could not be found: '%s'"), argv[i]);
 			continue;
 		}
 		set_reflog_expiry_param(&cb.cmd, ref);
diff --git a/t/t1410-reflog.sh b/t/t1410-reflog.sh
index 388fdf9ae5..1f7249be76 100755
--- a/t/t1410-reflog.sh
+++ b/t/t1410-reflog.sh
@@ -315,9 +315,9 @@  test_expect_success 'git reflog expire unknown reference' '
 	test_config gc.reflogexpireunreachable never &&
 
 	test_must_fail git reflog expire main@{123} 2>stderr &&
-	test_grep "points nowhere" stderr &&
+	test_grep "error: reflog could not be found: ${SQ}main@{123}${SQ}" stderr &&
 	test_must_fail git reflog expire does-not-exist 2>stderr &&
-	test_grep "points nowhere" stderr
+	test_grep "error: reflog could not be found: ${SQ}does-not-exist${SQ}" stderr
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'checkout should not delete log for packed ref' '