From a16b9477d951ae45ce6d8efc13d2dbc30d54dbdf Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Elis Eriksson <spelis.tech@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2026 10:40:03 +0200
Subject: better fallback for detecting default branch. will still default to
 zero if it really cant find mtime

---
 ui-repolist.c | 38 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---
 1 file changed, 35 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/ui-repolist.c b/ui-repolist.c
index 59a4fbb..77e6387 100644
--- a/ui-repolist.c
+++ b/ui-repolist.c
@@ -6,12 +6,15 @@
  *   (see COPYING for full license text)
  */
 
+#include <linux/limits.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <string.h>
 #define USE_THE_REPOSITORY_VARIABLE
 
-#include "ui-repolist.h"
 #include "cgit.h"
 #include "html.h"
 #include "lang.h"
+#include "ui-repolist.h"
 #include "ui-shared.h"
 
 static time_t read_agefile(const char *path) {
@@ -34,6 +37,36 @@ static time_t read_agefile(const char *path) {
   return result;
 }
 
+time_t get_default_branch(const char *gitdir) {
+  char head_path[PATH_MAX];
+  char ref_path[PATH_MAX];
+  FILE *f;
+  char buf[256];
+  struct stat s;
+
+  snprintf(head_path, sizeof(head_path), "%sHEAD", gitdir);
+
+  f = fopen(head_path, "r");
+  if (!f)
+    return 0;
+
+  if (!fgets(buf, sizeof(buf), f))
+    return 0;
+
+  fclose(f);
+
+  if (strncmp("ref: ", buf, 5) != 0)
+    return 0;
+  char *ref = buf + 5;
+  ref[strcspn(ref, "\n")] = '\0';
+
+  snprintf(ref_path, sizeof(ref_path), "%s%s", gitdir, ref);
+  if (stat(ref_path, &s) == 0) {
+    return s.st_mtime;
+  }
+  return 0;
+}
+
 static int get_repo_modtime(const struct cgit_repo *repo, time_t *mtime) {
   struct strbuf path = STRBUF_INIT;
   struct stat s;
@@ -68,9 +101,8 @@ static int get_repo_modtime(const struct cgit_repo *repo, time_t *mtime) {
     r->mtime = *mtime;
     goto end;
   }
+  *mtime = get_default_branch(r->path);
 
-  *mtime = 0;
-  r->mtime = *mtime;
 end:
   strbuf_release(&path);
   return (r->mtime != 0);
-- 
cgit v1.3-7-ge9ab