Hi,

TL;DR: "git push --mirror" does not in fact push all refs, despite
documentation stating it does. It ONLY pushes refs in refs/heads/ and
refs/tags/.

I ran into this while preparing to migrate Gentoo's primary Git server
(which uses Gitolite).

Gitolite ships a post-receive hook, "save-push-signatures" [1] that save
Push certificates into refs/push-certs.

Gitolite mirroring invokes 'git push --mirror' to mirror from the
primary location to replicas.

I was surprised to find, on the new server presently configured as
replica, but intended to take over as the primary, that the
refs/push-certs was missing on every single repo.

```
# git push -h |grep -e mirror -e all
    --all                 push all refs
	--mirror              mirror all refs
```
git-push(1):
```
--mirror
    Instead of naming each ref to push, specifies that all refs under refs/ (which includes
    but is not limited to refs/heads/, refs/remotes/, and refs/tags/) be mirrored to the
    remote repository. ...
```

git --version: 2.32.0

Attached I also include the trace ref & trace packet output as well that shows
it on a sample repo.
```
GIT_TRACE_REFS=/tmp/trace-refs \
GIT_TRACE_PACKET=/tmp/trace-packet \
git push --mirror $REPLICA:$REPO
```

The repo's gitconfig does not contain any remotes, because that's the way gitolite is built.

[1] https://github.com/sitaramc/gitolite/blob/master/contrib/hooks/repo-specific/save-push-signatures

-- 
Robin Hugh Johnson
Gentoo Linux: Dev, Infra Lead, Foundation Treasurer
E-Mail   : robbat2@gentoo.org
GnuPG FP : 11ACBA4F 4778E3F6 E4EDF38E B27B944E 34884E85
GnuPG FP : 7D0B3CEB E9B85B1F 825BCECF EE05E6F6 A48F6136