API incompatibility: GetGitRefs returns array for heads/{branch} even when there is a single match

[rogerlga]

Description

Gitea’s GET /api/v1/repos/{owner}/{repo}/git/refs/{ref} endpoint currently returns a JSON array even when the request targets a single, specific reference such as heads/main. This differs from GitHub’s REST API behavior and breaks clients that expect a single ref object for exact references

Reproduction

1. Ensure repository has a branch main (so the ref is refs/heads/main).
2. Call:
   GET /api/v1/repos/{owner}/{repo}/git/refs/heads/main

Actual behavior

Response is an array with a single element:

[
  {
    "ref": "refs/heads/main",
    "url": "...",
    "object": { "type": "commit", "sha": "...", "url": "..." }
  }
]

This leads to deserialization failures in some GitHub API clients expecting an object for an exact ref.

Expected behavior (GitHub-compatible)

For an exact ref request like heads/main, the response should be a single reference object (not an array). Arrays should be reserved for prefix/filtered requests that match multiple refs.

Root cause in current code

In routers/api/v1/repo/git_ref.go, Gitea returns an object only when the filter matches the ref name exactly:

gitea/routers/api/v1/repo/git_ref.go

Lines 102 to 106 in e589126

	// If single reference is found and it matches filter exactly return it as object
	if len(apiRefs) == 1 && apiRefs[0].Ref == filter {
	ctx.JSON(http.StatusOK, &apiRefs[0])
	return
	}

However, for a request like /git/refs/heads/main, filter is heads/main, while the ref name is refs/heads/main. Therefore this condition never matches for the GitHub-style path, and Gitea returns an array even for a single match.

Suggested fix

Normalize the filter before comparison (or relax the comparison) so that heads/main is treated as an exact match for refs/heads/main. For example, when len(apiRefs) == 1, consider returning an object when:

• apiRefs[0].Ref == filter, or
• apiRefs[0].Ref == "refs/" + filter

This would preserve the current “prefix search returns list” behavior, but restore GitHub-compatible behavior for exact refs like heads/{branch}.