From c0b8052a7802d392353f33206b7032646757a00d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: hp-himani <101387465+hp-himani@users.noreply.github.com.>
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 2026 16:44:05 +0530
Subject: [PATCH] fix(publish): explain why the clean repo check fails

---
 lib/commands/publish.js        | 25 ++++++++++++++++++--
 test/command-publish.test.js   | 42 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
 test/proxy/simple-git-proxy.js |  4 ++--
 3 files changed, 66 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/lib/commands/publish.js b/lib/commands/publish.js
index ca6723d..96ec763 100644
--- a/lib/commands/publish.js
+++ b/lib/commands/publish.js
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 'use strict'
 
-const assert = require('node:assert').strict
+const { isDeepStrictEqual } = require('node:util')
 const pino = require('pino')
 const { validate } = require('../validation')
 const draft = require('./draft')
@@ -86,7 +86,28 @@ module.exports = async function (args) {
   delete compare.current // the current branch could be named in a different way
   CLEAN_REPO.tracking = `${args.remote}/${args.branch}` // your local branch must track where you will push
   logger.debug('Complete repo status %s', inlineNotEmpty(status))
-  assert.deepStrictEqual(buildGitStatus(compare), CLEAN_REPO, 'The git repo must be clean (committed and pushed) before releasing!')
+
+  if (!compare.tracking) {
+    throw new Error(`Your local branch doesn't track any remote branch, but releasify expects "${CLEAN_REPO.tracking}".
+Push it and set its upstream (for example: git push -u ${args.remote} ${args.branch}), or switch to the branch you want to release.`)
+  }
+
+  if (compare.tracking !== CLEAN_REPO.tracking) {
+    throw new Error(`Your local branch tracks "${compare.tracking}", but releasify expects "${CLEAN_REPO.tracking}".
+        Either switch to the branch you want to release, or tell releasify which one to use:
+        - for this run only: add --branch <name> (and --remote <name> if needed)
+        - as your new default: run "releasify config --arg branch"`)
+  }
+
+  const gitStatus = buildGitStatus(compare)
+  const notClean = Object.keys(CLEAN_REPO)
+    .filter(key => !isDeepStrictEqual(gitStatus[key], CLEAN_REPO[key]))
+    .map(key => `- ${key}: ${JSON.stringify(gitStatus[key])}`)
+  if (notClean.length > 0) {
+    throw new Error(`The git repo must be clean (committed and pushed) before releasing!
+${notClean.join('\n')}
+Check "git status", then commit, push or pull before trying again.`)
+  }
 
   logger.debug('Building draft release..')
   const releasing = await draft(args)
diff --git a/test/command-publish.test.js b/test/command-publish.test.js
index 8dbb6c1..b0c3516 100644
--- a/test/command-publish.test.js
+++ b/test/command-publish.test.js
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ test('mandatory options', (t) => {
 })
 
 test('try to publish a repo not sync', async (t) => {
-  t.plan(1)
+  t.plan(2)
   const cmd = h.buildProxyCommand('../lib/commands/publish', {
     git: { status: { dirty: true } }
   })
@@ -81,6 +81,46 @@ test('try to publish a repo not sync', async (t) => {
         'The git repo must be clean (committed and pushed) before releasing!'
       )
     )
+    t.assert.match(error.message, /- modified: \["dirty-status\.js"\]/)
+  }
+})
+
+test('try to publish a repo tracked not to main branch', async (t) => {
+  t.plan(3)
+  const cmd = h.buildProxyCommand('../lib/commands/publish', {
+    git: { status: { tracking: 'origin/develop' } }
+  })
+  const opts = buildOptions()
+  opts.semver = 'patch'
+  opts.ghToken = '0000000000000000000000000000000000000000'
+  delete opts.tag
+
+  try {
+    await cmd(opts)
+    t.assert.fail('should not succeed')
+  } catch (error) {
+    t.assert.match(error.message, /origin\/main/)
+    t.assert.match(error.message, /origin\/develop/)
+    t.assert.match(error.message, /--branch/)
+  }
+})
+
+test('try to publish a branch that does not track any remote branch', async (t) => {
+  t.plan(2)
+  const cmd = h.buildProxyCommand('../lib/commands/publish', {
+    git: { status: { tracking: null } }
+  })
+  const opts = buildOptions()
+  opts.semver = 'patch'
+  opts.ghToken = '0000000000000000000000000000000000000000'
+  delete opts.tag
+
+  try {
+    await cmd(opts)
+    t.assert.fail('should not succeed')
+  } catch (error) {
+    t.assert.match(error.message, /doesn't track any remote branch/)
+    t.assert.match(error.message, /git push -u origin main/)
   }
 })
 
diff --git a/test/proxy/simple-git-proxy.js b/test/proxy/simple-git-proxy.js
index d5e9ef9..c37dd57 100644
--- a/test/proxy/simple-git-proxy.js
+++ b/test/proxy/simple-git-proxy.js
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ function shouldThrows (cmd = {}, params) {
  * {
  *   tag: {inputChecker: func, throwError: true, history: number of tag commit list}
  *   log: {inputChecker: func, throwError: true, messages: [array of messages to use]}
- *   status: {throwError: true, dirty: true, tracking: 'origin/main'}
+ *   status: {throwError: true, dirty: true, tracking: 'origin/main' (null = no upstream branch)}
  *   add: {inputChecker: func, throwError: true}
  *   commit: {inputChecker: func, throwError: true, branch: 'main'}
  *   push: {inputChecker: func, throwError: true}
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ module.exports = function factory (opts = {}) {
           modified.push('dirty-status.js')
         }
 
-        const tracking = (opts.status && opts.status.tracking) ? opts.status.tracking : 'origin/main'
+        const tracking = (opts.status && opts.status.tracking !== undefined) ? opts.status.tracking : 'origin/main'
 
         cb(null, {
           not_added: [],