Re: [PATCH 1/5] git.txt: HEAD is not that special
On 15/12/2023 20:32, Junio C Hamano wrote:
Show 32 quoted lines
> The introductory text in "git help git" that describes HEAD called
> it "a special ref". It is special compared to the more regular refs
> like refs/heads/master and refs/tags/v1.0.0, but not that special,
> unlike truly special ones like FETCH_HEAD.
>
> Rewrite a few sentences to also introduce the distinction between a
> regular ref that contain the object name and a symbolic ref that
> contain the name of another ref. Update the description of HEAD
> that point at the current branch to use the more correct term, a
> "symbolic ref".
>
> This was found as part of auditing the documentation and in-code
> comments for uses of "special ref" that refer merely a "pseudo ref".
>
> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
> ---
> Documentation/git.txt | 7 ++++---
> 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/Documentation/git.txt b/Documentation/git.txt
> index 2535a30194..880cdc5d7f 100644
> --- a/Documentation/git.txt
> +++ b/Documentation/git.txt
> @@ -1025,10 +1025,11 @@ When first created, objects are stored in individual files, but for
> efficiency may later be compressed together into "pack files".
>
> Named pointers called refs mark interesting points in history. A ref
> -may contain the SHA-1 name of an object or the name of another ref. Refs
> -with names beginning `ref/head/` contain the SHA-1 name of the most
> +may contain the SHA-1 name of an object or the name of another ref (the
> +latter is called a "symbolic ref").
> +Refs with names beginning `ref/head/` contain the SHA-1 name of the most
Hmm, s:ref/head:refs/heads: right?
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> recent commit (or "head") of a branch under development. SHA-1 names of
> -tags of interest are stored under `ref/tags/`. A special ref named
> +tags of interest are stored under `ref/tags/`. A symbolic ref named
> `HEAD` contains the name of the currently checked-out branch.
>
> The index file is initialized with a list of all paths and, for each