Re: how to start with non-master branch?

From: Charles Bailey <charles@hashpling.org>
Date: Jul 19, 2009, 17:44 UTC
Message-ID: <20090719174441.GA14556@hashpling.org>
In-Reply-To: <f46c52560907190553x4e21ffbdn6d55c43f2d6b08ad@mail.gmail.com>

On Sun, Jul 19, 2009 at 06:23:32PM +0530, Rustom Mody wrote:

Show 11 quoted lines

> I want my first commit to be on a non-master branch.
> So after the git init I do
> $ git checkout -b newbranch
> 
> I get
> fatal: You are on a branch yet to be born
> 
> Of course I can get by with making the first commit on master and then
> switching.
> 
> But wondering if I am missing something basic?

The problem with git checkout -b newbranch is that it tries to create a new branch based on your current HEAD. As you have no commits, your HEAD doesn't point at a commit ant this can't work. To change the name of your current branch before you've made any commits, you can use the symbolic-ref command to update your HEAD to point to a differently named branch (that also doesn't yet exist). Try this:

git symbolic-ref HEAD refs/heads/non-master

and then carry on adding and committing as before.

Charles.

-- 
Charles Bailey
http://ccgi.hashpling.plus.com/blog/