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Re: [PATCH 5/5] docs/checkout: clarify what "non-branch" means

From
Mark Levedahl <mlevedahl@gmail.com>
Date
Apr 14, 2009, 03:40 UTC
Message-ID
<200904132340.36191.mlevedahl@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To
<7vmyakh5wc.fsf@gitster.siamese.dyndns.org>
On Monday 13 April 2009 12:31:31 Junio C Hamano wrote:
Show 11 quoted lines
> Jeff King <peff@peff.net> writes:
> > I hope this helps a little bit with Mark's confusion. But while writing
> > it, I really think it would be a simpler rule to say "if it's in
> > refs/heads/, then it's a branch" (which is similar to what Mark
> > suggested earlier).
> >
> > So "git checkout refs/heads/master" would be identical to "git checkout
> > master". That would require a code change, though.
>
> Sorry, but I do not get the logic behind such a change.
>

I think the question being posed is: Would unifying branch names across all git commands (i.e., always accepting refs/heads/master as naming branch master, and accepting master when that is unambiguous) sufficiently benefit new users trying to learn git that it would be worth the change? The fact that refs/heads/master will be interpreted as branch or non-branch, and possibly as refs/heads/refs/heads/master, being a different branch, across different git commands is certainly not "intuitively obvious" to new users.

In this vein, I suggest that
	$ git checkout --detach master
as a way to get a detached HEAD on branch master is more understandable than
	$ git checkout refs/heads/master
Mark
Previous: Junio C HamanoNext: Junio C Hamano
Message 17 of 24 in “builtin-branch - allow deleting a fully specified branch-name”
  1. builtin-branch - allow deleting a fully specified branch-nameMark Levedahl, Apr 10, 2009
  2. Junio C HamanoApr 10, 2009
  3. Mark LevedahlApr 10, 2009
  4. Junio C HamanoApr 10, 2009
  5. Mark LevedahlApr 11, 2009
  6. Jeff KingApr 12, 2009
  7. Junio C HamanoApr 12, 2009
  8. Jeff KingApr 13, 2009
  9. Junio C HamanoApr 13, 2009
  10. Jeff KingApr 13, 2009
  11. 1/5 doc: clarify --no-track optionJeff King, Apr 13, 2009
  12. 2/5 doc: refer to tracking configuration as "upstream"Jeff King, Apr 13, 2009
  13. 3/5 doc/checkout: refer to git-branch(1) as appropriateJeff King, Apr 13, 2009
  14. 4/5 doc/checkout: split checkout and branch creation in synopsisJeff King, Apr 13, 2009
  15. 5/5 docs/checkout: clarify what "non-branch" meansJeff King, Apr 13, 2009
  16. Junio C HamanoApr 13, 2009
  17. Mark LevedahlApr 14, 2009
  18. Junio C HamanoApr 14, 2009
  19. Jakub NarebskiApr 14, 2009
  20. Jeff KingApr 15, 2009
  21. Jeff KingApr 15, 2009
  22. Jeff KingApr 13, 2009
  23. Jeff KingApr 13, 2009
  24. Sverre RabbelierApr 13, 2009

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