read-tree: Fix regression with creation of a new index file.

Reading the index into an empty file has been broken by
5a56da58060e50980fab0f4c38203a25440d1530, since it causes the existing
index to always be loaded first, and dies if it's an empty file:

$ GIT_INDEX_FILE=`mktemp` git read-tree master
fatal: index file smaller than expected

It breaks for instance committing from git.el. This patch reverts to the
previous behavior of only loading the index when merging it.

Signed-off-by: Alexandre Julliard <julliard@winehq.org>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>

2 files changed, 31 insertions, 4 deletions

diff --git a/builtin-read-tree.c b/builtin-read-tree.c
index 9c2d634d6d..14c836b169 100644
--- a/builtin-read-tree.c
+++ b/builtin-read-tree.c
@@ -113,13 +113,15 @@ int cmd_read_tree(int argc, const char **argv, const char *unused_prefix)
 	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, unused_prefix, read_tree_options,
 			     read_tree_usage, 0);
 
-	if (read_cache_unmerged() && (opts.prefix || opts.merge))
-		die("You need to resolve your current index first");
-
 	prefix_set = opts.prefix ? 1 : 0;
 	if (1 < opts.merge + opts.reset + prefix_set)
 		die("Which one? -m, --reset, or --prefix?");
-	stage = opts.merge = (opts.reset || opts.merge || prefix_set);
+
+	if (opts.reset || opts.merge || opts.prefix) {
+		if (read_cache_unmerged() && (opts.prefix || opts.merge))
+			die("You need to resolve your current index first");
+		stage = opts.merge = 1;
+	}
 
 	for (i = 0; i < argc; i++) {
 		const char *arg = argv[i];
diff --git a/t/t1009-read-tree-new-index.sh b/t/t1009-read-tree-new-index.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..59b3aa4bc4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/t1009-read-tree-new-index.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+test_description='test read-tree into a fresh index file'
+
+. ./test-lib.sh
+
+test_expect_success setup '
+	echo one >a &&
+	git add a &&
+	git commit -m initial
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'non-existent index file' '
+	rm -f new-index &&
+	GIT_INDEX_FILE=new-index git read-tree master
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'empty index file' '
+	rm -f new-index &&
+	> new-index &&
+	GIT_INDEX_FILE=new-index git read-tree master
+'
+
+test_done
+