`fetch-tags` argument is incorrect

[htunnicliff]

Expected Behavior

When fetch-tags is set to true, the --tags flag is appended to the underlying git fetch operation:

-git fetch
+git fetch --tags

Actual Behavior

When fetch-tags is set to true, the --tags flag is NOT appended to the underlying git fetch operation.

Notes

It appears that the only behavior change that this option introduces is the addition of the --no-tags flag when the fetch-tags option is set to false (which is its default):

checkout/src/git-command-manager.ts

Lines 288 to 290 in 71cf226

	if (!refSpec.some(x => x === refHelper.tagsRefSpec) && !options.fetchTags) {
	args.push('--no-tags')
	}

I find this behavior misleading, given that these are the typical tag behaviors of git fetch:

Operation	Behavior
git fetch	Any tag that points into the histories being fetched is also fetched1
git fetch --tags	Fetches all tags from the remote2
git fetch --no-tags	Disables automatic tag following3

It seems like the existing behavior of this option would be more appropriately named no-fetch-tags/no-tags/etc.

Change Request

• Deprecate the fetch-tags option.
• Add a tags option (or perhaps tags-behavior?) that can be set to one of the following:
  • follow (default)
  • all
  • none

I'd be happy to implement this behavior in a pull request if that would be welcome!

Related Issues

• allow fetch tags too #701
• Can't fetch with fetch-tags when triggered by tag #1467
• fetch-tags: true doesn't actually fetch any tags #1471
• fetch-tags=true do not work when fetch-depth > 0 #1662
• fetch-tags is not working according to the docs with v4 #1781
• Tags no longer fetch with Git v2.48.0 #2041
• fetch-tags: false still fetches tags if fetch-depth is 0 #2195
• fetch-tags: true doesn't work #2199

Footnotes

1. https://git-scm.com/docs/git-fetch.html#_description ↩

2. https://git-scm.com/docs/git-fetch.html#Documentation/git-fetch.txt---tags ↩

3. https://git-scm.com/docs/git-fetch.html#Documentation/git-fetch.txt---no-tags ↩