[PATCH] Documentation clarification on git-checkout regarding ours/theirs
From: "Simon A. Eugster" <simon.eugster@eps.ch>
Signed-off-by: Simon A. Eugster <simon.eugster@eps.ch>
---
Documentation/git-checkout.txt | 16 +++++++++++++++-
1 file changed, 15 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/git-checkout.txt b/Documentation/git-checkout.txt
index d263a56..d69306f 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-checkout.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-checkout.txt
@@ -115,7 +115,21 @@ entries; instead, unmerged entries are ignored.
--ours::
--theirs::
When checking out paths from the index, check out stage #2
- ('ours') or #3 ('theirs') for unmerged paths.
+ ('ours', HEAD) or #3 ('theirs', MERGE_HEAD) for unmerged paths.
+ See linkgit:git-merge[1] for details about stages #2 and #3.
++
+Note that during `git rebase` and `git pull --rebase`, 'theirs' checks out
+the local version, and 'ours' the remote version or the history that is rebased
+against.
++
+The reason ours/theirs appear to be swapped during a rebase is that we
+define the remote history as the canonical history, on top of which our
+private commits are applied on, as opposed to normal merging where the
+local history is the canonical one.
+During merging, we assume the role of the canonical history’s keeper,
+which, in case of a rebase, is the remote history, and our private commits
+look to the keeper as “their” commits which need to be integrated on top
+of “our” work.
-b <new_branch>::
Create a new branch named <new_branch> and start it at
--
1.8.5.1
Simon A. Eugster <simon.eu@gmail.com>