How do I get the name of the current branch in libgit2?

Question

I am trying to use libgit2 to read the name of the current branch. Do I have to do some sort of resolve?

I tried using

git_branch_lookup

to look up the git_reference for HEAD, but it results in

Unable to find local branch 'HEAD'

Thanks!

Answer 1

Running git branch -a doesn't list HEAD. In libgit2, HEAD isn't considered a valid branch either. It's only a reference.

If you want to discover which reference is the current branch, then you should

• Load the current HEAD reference (try the git_repository_head() convenience method)
• Determine its type (using git_reference_type())
• Depending on its type (GIT_REF_SYMBOLIC or GIT_REF_OID) retrieve one of the following
  • The name of the branch (using git_reference_symbolic_target())
  • The commit being pointed at (using git_reference_target())