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[PATCH 5/9 v2] Documentation: clone: clarify discussion of initial branch

From
Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>
Date
Oct 9, 2009, 23:07 UTC
Message-ID
<20091009230739.GC4605@progeny.tock>
In-Reply-To
<7vskdsqlvh.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org>

When saying the initial branch is equal to the currently active remote branch, it is probably intended that the branch heads point to the same commit. Maybe it would be more useful to a new user to emphasize that the tree contents and history are the same.

More important, probably, is that this new branch is set up so that "git pull" merges changes from the corresponding remote branch. The next paragraph addresses that directly. What the reader needs to know to begin with is that (1) the initial branch is your own; if you do not pull, it won't get updated, and that (2) the initial branch starts out at the same commit as the upstream.

Thanks to Junio C Hamano for the wording.
Signed-off-by: Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>
---
Junio C Hamano wrote:
Show 8 quoted lines
> Perhaps
> 
>     ... creates and checks out an initial branch that is forked from the
>     cloned repository's currently active branch.
> 
> would convey that (1) the initial branch is your own; if you do not pull,
> you won't get updated, and that (2) the initial branch starts out at the
> same commit as the upstream.

That does work better. Explanation stolen for the commit message --- I hope you don't mind.

Thanks, Jonathan

 Documentation/git-clone.txt |    5 +++--
 1 files changed, 3 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/git-clone.txt b/Documentation/git-clone.txt
index aacf4fd..5ebcba1 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-clone.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-clone.txt
@@ -19,8 +19,9 @@ DESCRIPTION
 
 Clones a repository into a newly created directory, creates
 remote-tracking branches for each branch in the cloned repository
-(visible using `git branch -r`), and creates and checks out an initial
-branch equal to the cloned repository's currently active branch.
+(visible using `git branch -r`), and creates and checks out an
+initial branch that is forked from the cloned repository's
+currently active branch.
 
 After the clone, a plain `git fetch` without arguments will update
 all the remote-tracking branches, and a `git pull` without

-- 
1.6.5.rc1.199.g596ec
Previous: Junio C HamanoNext: Jonathan Nieder
Message 9 of 19 in “Documentation tweaks”
  1. 0/9 Documentation tweaksJonathan Nieder, Oct 9, 2009
  2. 1/9 Describe DOCBOOK_XSL_172, ASCIIDOC_NO_ROFF options in MakefileJonathan Nieder, Oct 9, 2009
  3. 2/9 Documentation: git fmt-merge-message is not a scriptJonathan Nieder, Oct 9, 2009
  4. 3/9 Documentation: fix singular/plural mismatchJonathan Nieder, Oct 9, 2009
  5. 4/9 Documentation: say "the same" instead of "equal"Jonathan Nieder, Oct 9, 2009
  6. 4/9 Documentation: clarify mergeoptions descriptionJonathan Nieder, Oct 9, 2009
  7. 5/9 Documentation: clone: clarify discussion of initial branchJonathan Nieder, Oct 9, 2009
  8. Junio C HamanoOct 9, 2009
  9. 5/9 Documentation: clone: clarify discussion of initial branchJonathan Nieder, Oct 9, 2009
  10. 6/9 Documentation: branch: update --merged descriptionJonathan Nieder, Oct 9, 2009
  11. Junio C HamanoOct 10, 2009
  12. 7/9 Documentation: clarify branch creationJonathan Nieder, Oct 9, 2009
  13. Sean EstabrooksOct 9, 2009
  14. Jonathan NiederOct 9, 2009
  15. Junio C HamanoOct 10, 2009
  16. 8/9 Documentation: clarify "working tree" definitionJonathan Nieder, Oct 9, 2009
  17. 9/9 racy-git.txt: explain nsec problem in more detailJonathan Nieder, Oct 9, 2009
  18. Junio C HamanoOct 10, 2009
  19. Junio C HamanoOct 10, 2009

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