Add ref_names parameter support to Gitlab::Git::Finders::RefsFinder

Summary

Add support for filtering by a list of specific branch/tag names in Gitlab::Git::Finders::RefsFinder to match the functionality currently available in BranchesFinder.

Background

As part of the effort to replace BranchesFinder with Gitlab::Git::Finders::RefsFinder (Epic &11057), we need to implement the names parameter functionality that allows filtering refs by providing a specific list of names.

Currently, BranchesFinder supports this via:

BranchesFinder.new(repository, { names: %w[fix csv lfs does-not-exist] }).execute
# Returns only branches named 'fix', 'csv', and 'lfs' (ignoring non-existent ones)

Current Usage in Codebase

The names parameter is used in several places:

1. Branches Controller - app/controllers/projects/branches_controller.rb:58

   branches = BranchesFinder.new(repository, params.permit(names: [])).execute

2. Branch filtering operations where specific branch names need to be retrieved

Proposed Implementation

Add a ref_names parameter to Gitlab::Git::Finders::RefsFinder that:

1. Accepts an array of ref names to filter by
2. Returns only matching refs (ignoring non-existent names)
3. Maintains current sorting behavior when names are provided
4. Works with both branches and tags (based on ref_type)

API Design

# New usage pattern
Gitlab::Git::Finders::RefsFinder.new(
  repository,
  ref_type: :branches,
  ref_names: %w[fix csv lfs does-not-exist]
).execute
# Should return only refs for 'fix', 'csv', and 'lfs'

Related

• Parent issue: #578546 (Spike: Replace existing BranchesFinder with Gitlab::Git::Finders::RefsFinder)
• Epic: &11057 (Move branch/tag searching to Gitaly)
• Original RefsFinder MR: !125718 (merged)