Empty (bare) repository causes error

[progval]

Hi,

I cannot instanciate a Repo object with a bare repository:

progval@Andromede:~/repositories$ python
Python 2.7.3rc2 (default, Mar 21 2012, 06:59:11) 
[GCC 4.6.3] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import git
>>> git.Repo('testing.git').tree()
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/git/repo/base.py", line 399, in tree
    return self.head.commit.tree
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/git/refs/symbolic.py", line 168, in _get_commit
    obj = self._get_object()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/git/refs/symbolic.py", line 161, in _get_object
    return Object.new_from_sha(self.repo, hex_to_bin(self.dereference_recursive(self.repo, self.path)))
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/git/refs/symbolic.py", line 115, in dereference_recursive
    hexsha, ref_path = cls._get_ref_info(repo, ref_path)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/git/refs/symbolic.py", line 142, in _get_ref_info
    raise ValueError("Reference at %r does not exist" % ref_path)
ValueError: Reference at 'refs/heads/master' does not exist

Regards,
Valentin Lorentz

[Byron]

Hi Valentin,

Can you access the repo with the git commandline ?
Does the file refs/heads/master exist in your repository on in your packed-refs file ?

Thanks for the info.

[progval]

The repo I was using had no commit. With another one, it works.

Thank you

Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

[Byron]

Alright, that explains it ! It does not check for the 'repo without commit' case yet.
Once it has a commit, it should work as the branch HEAD points to actually exists.

[Byron]

The issue is somewhat misleading, as not the instantiation of the repository is causing an error, but the call to tree() right afterwards. Considering that in an empty repository, there is no commit being pointed to, and thus, no tree, failing in some way is expected.
The exception you see is expected, and I have added this particular call to the test-suite.

In future, and if empty repositories have to be handled, you could check if the branch you see is valid, such as in

repo.active_branch.is_valid()